In Saturday’s raid, the commandos came ashore in speedboats and immediately focused their assault on a beachside villa where it is understood that the target had been staying, the Associated Press reported.

However a dozen Al Shabab fighters returned fire and threw grenades, a source in Mogadishu says, and the Seals’ commanders made the call to pull out to avoid civilian casualties. Helicopter gunships launched from military vessels offshore arrived to provide cover for the retreating troops, according to reports from eyewitnesses.

The target building was known as a safe house for foreign fighters who had traveled to Somalia to fight with Al Shabab. Ahmed Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu al-Zubayr and the leader of the group’s hardline faction that claimed responsibility for the Nairobi shopping center attack, had stayed there before but it was not clear how recently.

Several Somali news sites claimed that Godane was in a nearby house but escaped, although these reports could not immediately be verified.