Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 14, 1993 TAG: 9306140219
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA LENGTH: Medium
American AC-130 gunships later launched another round of shelling, hitting targets apparently linked with warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, the alleged mastermind of ambushes that killed 23 Pakistani peacekeepers and wounded 59 others on June 5.
Dozens of blasts echoed through the night as the high-tech, four-engine planes began hitting what appeared to be two targets, including an arms depot, in southern Mogadishu. The raid ended about 90 minutes later.
It was the third attack in three days. On Saturday, aircraft shelled a suspected weapons site belonging to Aidid's chief financial backer.
The protests and strikes show the volatile nature of the city more than six months after U.S.-led forces arrived to try to restore order and protect relief efforts.
Earlier in the day, the United Nations said it would continue its campaign against the warlord.
"We want to move on aggressively and disarm" Aidid's forces, Koffi Annan, the U.N. undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations said in New York after the second attack began.
Although tons of ammunition, tanks, artillery pieces and other military hardware were captured, U.N. officials acknowledged Aidid may have hidden plenty more.
A witness said Pakistani soldiers appeared to open fire Sunday without provocation on thousands of Aidid supporters at a traffic circle.
"These people were running, they were densely packed," said Toronto Star reporter Paul Watson. "I do not recall hearing a shot before the Pakistanis opened fire. They fired hundreds of rounds."
Among those killed were a 12-year-old boy and 2-year-old boy, who was hit in the abdomen a half-mile from the protest. Officials at Digfer Hospital showed reporters seven bodies and said they had several more, but relatives refused to give the reporters access.
Later counts raised the death toll to at least 14.
Three bullets hit the side of a hotel across from the traffic circle. One of the bullets punched a hole in the hotel wall, narrowly missing an Associated Press reporter.
Brig. Gen. Ikram ul-Hasan, commander of Pakistani forces in Somalia, denied that his men were seeking revenge for the ambushes. He said Somali gunmen in the crowd fired first, and that Somali gunmen may have used women and children as shields.
U.S. officials on Sunday expressed regret over the deaths of women and children, but defended the actions of the U.N. troops there.
Shortly before dawn Sunday, dozens of rocket-propelled grenades were fired at Pakistani troops in another area of the city.
by CNB