Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 25, 1993 TAG: 9307250038
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA LENGTH: Medium
The gunmen fired on two Humvee all-purpose vehicles as the troops were returning from the airport to U.N. headquarters, said Capt. Jonathan Dahms, a U.N. spokesman.
Other soldiers in the attacked vehicles shot back, killing the two Somalis. Three or four other gunmen apparently escaped, Dahms said.
"It was a deliberate, planned ambush," said Maj. Leann Swieczkowski, another U.N. spokeswoman.
Sgt. Maj. Patrick R. Ballogg, 42, was shot in the right shoulder and hand, and Sgt. Michael D. Bower, 28, was shot in the right knee. Dahms said both were in stable condition at a U.S. army field hospital. Both men are with the 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group from Fort Bragg, N.C.
The shootings occurred as the United States was reviewing the U.N. humanitarian operation in Somalia. U.S. special envoy David Shinn, the top coordinator for Somalia in the State Department, was leading a six-member team to assess the operation and the U.S. role in it, State Department spokesman Michael McCurry said Friday. Shinn was to return to Washington on Tuesday.
Also Saturday, more than 23,000 people received food for the first time in six weeks, despite U.N. refusal to provide military escorts into areas where its peacekeepers have been killed.
Twenty-six distribution centers in the capital were to receive a truckload of wheat and maize from CARE International.
The unescorted deliveries pointed to the growing difference between those charged with performing the U.N.'s humanitarian functions and those running the military operation.
"UNOSOM would not provide military escorts," said Simon Israel of CARE, referring to the U.N. operation in Somalia. "We can understand why, but we are in the humanitarian business, and that's the No. 1 priority."
by CNB