UN CHIEF SLAMS SOMALI BLASTS
Baku, September 18 (AZERTAC). UN chief Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the suicide blasts on Thursday that killed nine African Union peacekeepers in Somalia, including the Burundian deputy commander of the force. A witness said 11 people were killed in the attack.
“I condemn this terrorist attack in the strongest terms,” the UN secretary general told a news conference.
Ban said vehicles reportedly with UN markings were used in the attack on the AU force headquarters at Mogadishu airport, for which hardline Islamist rebels claimed responsibility.
Two bombs ripped through the fortified compound of the force known as Amisom, killing the nine soldiers and wounding at least 15 others, AU officials said.
“Among those who died is the Amisom deputy commander Major General Juvenal Niyonguruza,” who was about to complete his tour of duty in Somalia, Ugandan army spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Felix Kulayigye said.
The force commander, Ugandan General Nathan Mugisha, was among the wounded in the attacks, the army said.
Clashes erupted elsewhere in southern Mogadishu between insurgents and AU forces backing Somali government troops, witnesses said.
Hardline Islamist militants seeking to overthrow the weak transitional government of Western-backed President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed have repeatedly targeted the 5 000-strong AU peacekeeping force, made up of troops from Uganda and Burundi.
Since being deployed in the war-ravaged Somali capital in 2007, the AU force has lost 34 troops.
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