(CNN) -- A U.S. Special Forces raid in Somalia may have killed a wanted al Qaeda terrorist, U.S. officials said Monday. Special Forces used a helicopter to fire on a car in southern Somalia on Monday, killing several people, including one the U.S. military believes was Saleh ali Saleh Nabhan, a senior al Qaeda operative. Nabhan has been tied to several attacks in East Africa, including the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, according to the sources.Nabhan has been on the FBI's most wanted list for several years. The officials who talked to CNN are familiar with the latest information on this incident but did not want to be identified because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
The helicopter flew from a U.S. Navy warship offshore, one of the sources said. The ship kept watch on the operation and was ready to rescue the U.S. troops if they got into trouble. The official said the troops landed to take away the body believed to be that of Nabhan for positive identification. The United States had intelligence that he was in the area, and was monitoring the situation for several days, the sources said.
President Obama signed off on the operation, a senior U.S. official told CNN's Ed Henry.