On October 30th 2013 two CIA agents, Leroy Wright and Deon Dillon, were deployed into Somalia from Kenya. They were to pose as Kenyan Islamc Extremists planning a terror attack in Miami, Florida. They were to travel to Mogadishu and go to a local weapons dealer known as Ali. Ali was believed to be supplying weapons to al-Qaeda and Al-Shabbab, who siezed power in Somalia in 2010. The main objective of the operation was to find out about the key locations that this man operated so they could be targeted and destroyed by NATO forces operating around the Horn of Africa. The first meeting with Ali went as planned and the two CIA agents returned for another meeting the following day. During this meeting Ali offered to have the weapons sent to a contact in Fort Lauderdalebut the Agents declined the offer, saying that they would get them to Florida themselves. Agent Wright said that he was unsure of how trust worthy Ali's contact was. A small argument ensued and Ali was hinted of they're real backgrounds. The Agents contacted command and they were told that they would be extracted the following night. The next day Ali met them at his own palace, he was sympathetic and said that he would follow the wishes of the Agents. As they drove away men of the Militia that Ali was a part of chased down the two Agents and cornered them after thier car went off the road. A short firefight ensued and ended with Agent Wright being slightly wounded and both agents taken captive.
Several hours after the men went missing Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) was ordered to put together a task force and send them into Somalia to track down and bring back the two missing agents. The task force was made up of a total of 240 members of US Special Operations (100 Army Rangers, 100 Marines of MARSOC and 40 SEALs of DEVGRU). Task Force Cobra was supported by the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Winston S. Churchill along with units of the Air force and elements of US Army helicopter squadrons. The men of Cobra were deployed onto the USS Essex and taken to the coast of Somalia where, in the Early morning of November 8th 2013, MARSOC launched an assault on an region outside of Mogadishu. Thier objective was to secure an area to set up a FOB from which Cobra could base thier operations from. They deployed via helicopter and were able to secure thier objective after a small engagement in which 19 Militia members and Marine Private Samual Wilcox were killed. The next day Army rangers launched a recon mission into Mogadishu and entered a heavy firefight with the militia who occupied the city. The nearly five hour engagement gave the US forces insight into what to expect from the Militia. US forces then began to then search for targets that could lead them to the where abouts of the missing agents. That night, men of MARSOC assaulted a building that the missing CIA agents mentioned in some info that they sent command the night before they went missing. At the building the Marines captured a member of the militia who tipped them off to several other key locations in the city but had no knowledge of where the agents were being taken to. The next day saw assaults on these buildings and info was gathered on possible locations where the agents were taken to. Info pointed to a hotel that it was believed that Agent Deon Dillon was being held in. DEVGRU assaulted the hotel at night and found nothing. Militia moved in on the hotel and a firfight ensued. An overhead AC-130 was able to keep the militia at bay but an unstable building collapsed after a 105mm shell landed near by. The collapse cut off the SEALs from thier extraction point and the AC-130 lost thier location. They were eventually pushed back to a mosque where a final stand was made. During this fight one SEAL, Petty Officer First Class Rick Young, attempted to throw back a grenade and was mortally wounded when it exploded just feet away after he threw it (For this action Young was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor). The SEALs did manage to hold off the Militia long enough for a flight of Navy Helicopters to come and extract the SEALs at dawn. Shortly after the SEALs were extracted, another assault was launched into the city by MARSOC. The squad of Marines deployed into the city under heavy fire but, with the help of an AH-1Z, were able to secure the LZ. The objective was to attack a safehouse where it was believed that Leroy Wright was being held at. They met extremly heavy resistance and encountered two Militia operated T-34's. Eventually they made it to the target location and found the body of Leroy Wright. The Marines found that he had been beaten by his Somalian captors and had concluded that Wright had been executed only minutes before the Marines reached his location. Several days later, Rangers carried out a mission to check out a possible weapons cache near the outskirts of the city. While moving towards the location they were met by a man who tipped them off on the location of Deon Dillon. The Rangers finished thier mission with minimal resistance and relayed the info back to the FOB. DEVGRU assaulted an old hospital on the edge of the city and, after an intense three hour firefight, the SEALs were able to enter the hospital and found Deon Dillon alive in one of the rooms. He was brought back to the FOB and then brought to the USS Essex where he was eventually taken home with the men of Task Force Cobra. Shortly before Task Force Cobra left Somalia, DEVGRU assaulted the home of Ali in on a "Kill or Capture" mission, during the mission the SEALs killed Ali.
Operation Urgent Response lasted two weeks. An estimated total of 300-400 Militia were killed. The Rangers, DEVGRU and MARSOC each lost a man and an AH-64 was shot down resaulting in the loss of both crew members. About 30 Americans were wounded in the fighting. The contact in Fort Lauderdale was arrested by FBI agents and is currently awaiting trial. Leroy Wright was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetary, along with Navy SEAL Rick Young, Marine Samual Wilcox and Soldier Josh Hamilton and the two crew members of the Apache. Deon Dillon left the CIA after the incident, it was reported in Early 2014 that some of the after action reports may be declassified but the failed CIA operation that caused Operation Urgent Response will most likely never be publically known.
