End the brutal Israeli occupation of Mogadishu! “5 Somalis, 7 militants die in attack on UN office,” by Abdi Guled for the Associated Press, June 19 (thanks to Kenneth):
MOGADISHU, Somalia “” Al-Qaida-linked militants detonated multiple bomb blasts and breached the main U.N. compound in Mogadishu Wednesday, sparking gun battles with security forces that killed at least 12 people. U.N. personnel who reached the compound’s secure bunker all survived, though officials hinted not all reached that bunker.
An ambulance driver said that five Somali civilians were killed and an Associated Press reporter who went inside the U.N. compound after the battle saw two dead bodies of what appeared to be al-Shabab attackers wearing Somali military uniforms. An official said seven attackers died in total.
Ben Parker, a spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia, said that a first explosion was detonated at 11:30 a.m. and that at least two others followed. Dozens of staff from U.N. humanitarian and development agencies were in the compound and many moved to a secure bunker, he said.
African Union and Somali security forces responded and took control of the compound about an hour later. The U.N. staff who sought refuge in the bunker were then evacuated to the secure military base and airport complex across the street, Parker said.
Parker was then asked if that meant all U.N. people survived: “Assuming that people got to the safe area,” he said. “There was not very much time to get into the safe area.”…