Ras Kamboni

Kamboni (Arabic: كامبوني; Somali: Kambooni) is a town in the Badhaadhe district of Lower Juba region, Somalia, which lies on a peninsula near the border with Kenya. It is the southernmost town in Somalia. The tip of that peninsula is called Ras Kamboni (Cape Kamboni). The town is located 274 kilometers south of Kismayo. The Town population is 79,000. American officials have said that it has served as a training camp for extremists with connections to Al-Qaeda; al-Sharq al-Awsat reported in May 1999 that al-Qaeda was installing sophisticated communications equipment in the camp. US security concerns in the Horn of Africa, particularly at Kamboni, heightened after the attacks on 9/11. On December 16, 2001, Paul Wolfowitz said the US was meeting with various Somali and Ethiopian contacts to "observe, survey possible escape routes, possible sanctuaries" for Al Qaeda operatives. On March 2, 2002 a briefing was held in the Pentagon discussing the possible use of Kamboni by Islamic terrorist groups, including al-Ittihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI) and Al Qaeda. In December 2002, the US established the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) to monitor developments in the region and to train local militaries on counterterrorism. American officials believe that several terrorist attacks were orchestrated from Kamboni, including the 1998 United States embassy bombings and the 2002 Mombasa hotel bombing.