(Adds comment on reports of new strikes)

WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Tuesday said the United States struck southern Somalia on Sunday, targeting what they believed to be the "principal" al Qaeda leadership in the area.

"I will acknowledge the fact that the United States military did conduct a strike in southern Somalia on Sunday," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

"The target of the strike was the principal al Qaeda leadership in the region," he said.

Whitman said the strike was based on "credible intelligence" but would not comment on whether it was successful.

The strike was Washington's first overt military intervention in Somalia since a disastrous peacekeeping mission that ended in 1994.

Amid reports of subsequent U.S. strikes on Tuesday, Whitman declined to state categorically whether the U.S. military had been involved in other operations.

But he said: "I have talked about an operation that took place on Sunday and I have talked about the operations, air operations, to date."

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