Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 13, 1993 TAG: 9306140129
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA LENGTH: Medium
Following up Saturday's air and ground strikes, U.S. AC-130 gunships slammed round after round of 105mm shells into an area near the residence of Gen. Mohamed Farrah Aidid beginning about 12:45 a.m. (5:45 p.m. EDT Saturday).
It was not immediately clear whether the target was Aidid's house or a possible arms cache nearby. The shelling, which lasted about 20 minutes, set off explosions on the ground, suggesting an arms stockpile had been hit.
Private aid agencies near the scene reported by radio that it appeared the home of Aidid, that of his chief financial backer, Osman Otto, and a nearby storage area all had been hit.
Saturday's pre-dawn raids were directed at the warlord's radio station and four of his known weapons storage sites.
The assaults are in retaliation for Aidid's alleged masterminding of two ambushes June 5 in which 23 Pakistani peacekeeping troops were killed.
The ambushes sent a jolt of fear through foreign civilians in Somalia to help the country recover from famine and anarchy. Hundreds of them left the country after the ambush, closing relief centers and leaving countless Somalis hungry.
President Clinton called the U.N. assault a "blow against lawlessness and killing," and said Saturday the attacks could hasten the end of U.S. military involvement there. In a radio address Saturday explaining U.S. participation, Clinton said allied forces, including American troops, sustained no casualties.
After Saturday's air assault, there had been fears of a backlash from supporters of Aidid, who holds the southern part of Mogadishu, the capital.
Stone-throwing demonstrators marched toward U.N. headquarters but were scattered by gunfire from Pakistani forces. At least one person was killed.
A defiant spokesman for Aidid had warned Saturday that the attack would lead to more unrest. It was not immediately clear whether today's attack would further inflame Aidid's partisans or if it was devastating enough to discourage retaliation.
But the U.N. intends to continue its campaign against the warlord.
"We want to move on aggressively and disarm" Aidid's forces, U.N. undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations Koffi Annan said in New York after the second attack began.
by CNB