Delta Force Reportedly to Hunt Aidid : Somalia: Small group from high-precision unit arrives in Mogadishu with U.S. Rangers, military sources say.

The U.S. Rangers that began landing in Mogadishu on Thursday included a small number of Delta Force troops specially trained for the job of hunting down fugitive warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid, military sources said.

Although officials continued to insist publicly that capturing Aidid was not the primary mission of the Rangers, military analysts said there was little doubt that they would do everything they could to catch him.

The Delta Force, created in the late 1970s, contains volunteers drawn from throughout the army and is used for high-precision operations such as extracting hostages from hostile areas--or, in the case of Aidid, arrest.

According to published reports, the unit took part in the abortive attempt to rescue hostages from the U.S. Embassy in Iran in 1980; participated in the U.S. invasion of Grenada in 1983; provided anti-terrorist security for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, and took part in the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama and the capture of dictator Manuel A. Noriega.

Although the Pentagon would not confirm it, military analysts said Thursday that U.N. authorities must have pinpointed the place where Aidid has been hiding, or such an operation could not have been considered.

The Rangers, part of a 400-member contingent that President Clinton ordered to Somalia on Saturday to help bolster other Army “quick-reaction” forces in Mogadishu, began arriving there on Thursday by transport plane. Pentagon sources said the remainder of the Ranger units will arrive by late today or early Saturday.

The fact that Aidid is still at large has become a major dilemma for the Administration, embarrassing both the United States and the United Nations and impeding the political reconstruction of Somalia. The United Nations called for Aidid’s arrest shortly after his forces ambushed and killed 24 Pakistani peacekeeping soldiers last June 5, and Washington staged an a series of air strikes to cripple him militarily. But he still is on the loose.

Neutralizing Aidid has important long-term implications for the United States. Until the general is no longer a threat, the Administration cannot begin to bring American troops home from Somalia. At the same time, the Administration is loath to admit publicly that it is trying to capture Aidid, lest the hunt turns into an embarrassment, as occurred in Noriega’s case.

The Pentagon toughened its tone in discussing the Somalia operation Thursday, with Defense Department spokeswoman Kathleen deLaski saying, “We’re prepared to deal with any individual or group that is an obstacle to improving the security situation.”

The Administration also is planning to launch a public relations campaign to shore up support for the Somalia effort on the home front.

Today, Defense Secretary Les Aspin is scheduled to give a speech in Washington that officials say will spell out the Administration’s Somalia policy in more detail and review some of the progress that has occurred.