Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 26, 1993 TAG: 9301260166
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
MARINE KILLED BY GUNFIRE IN SOMALIA
A U.S. Marine was shot and killed on patrol Monday in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, the Pentagon said.He was the third American killed in Somalia since the U.S. relief effort in the famine-stricken African nation began last fall.
The latest casualty occurred when a Marine patrolling near a soccer stadium in northern Mogadishu was hit by gunfire at 11:15 p.m. local time, said Lt. Col. Doug Hart, a Pentagon spokesman.
He said the Marine was evacuated to a Swedish hospital, where he died of his injuries, the spokesman said.
The Pentagon was withholding the dead man's identity until his relatives could be notified.
Hart said no further details of the shooting were available in Washington late Monday.
Elsewhere in Somalia, the United States and its allies plunged deeper into Somalia's civil war Monday, blasting a clan militia with rocket and cannon fire in the southern port of Kismayu.
No American casualties were reported in the helicopter gunship assault about 25 miles west of Kismayu, the first U.S. intervention in a conflict between Somali forces.
Officials said the assault had been requested by Gen. Mohamed Farrah Aidid, a major warlord, and was aimed at enforcing an 11-day cease-fire so peace talks between 14 warring factions can resume next Monday. The talks were halted Friday because of the fighting in southern and central Somalia.
In the Kismayu attack, gunships fired rockets and 20mm cannon at the forces of Gen. Mohamed Said Hirsi, known as General Morgan. A coalition spokesman, U.S. Marine Col. Fred Peck, said he had no estimate of Somali casualties.
About 40 injured people were admitted to hospitals in Kismayu on Monday, said Nina Winquist, a Red Cross spokeswoman.
Keywords:
FATALITY