Peace-keeping troops killed UN gunships attack rebel strongholds

ambush that killed seven Nigerian peace-keeping troops.

Residents said a large number of helicopters fired 20mm cannon at

positions along Mogadishu's flashpoint October 21 Road shortly after

midnight.

The attack followed less than 24 hours after Aideed's gunmen ambushed

a Nigerian patrol on its way to an Italian-manned checkpoint, killing

seven and injuring seven as well as two Pakistani UN troops who went to

their rescue.

The helicopters hovered over targets along the road, scene of June 5

ambushes of Pakistani peace-keepers which heralded the start of an

offensive by Aideed to drive the UN out of the city.

Reporters watching the battle from a hotel roof counted at least six

TOW missiles fired by what were thought to be US Cobra attack

helicopters attached to the UN force.

There was no way of contacting the UN military command for comment and

the exact targets were not known.

Mogadishu crackles to the sound of autmomatic gunfire almost nightly

and helicopters fly overhead incessantly scanning the ground for gunmen

using mortar bombs and rocket-launched grenades to attack the UN

compound, port, and airport.

However, today's attack involved half a dozen or more helicopters in a

major raid and drew a large amount of fire from the ground, residents

said.

Earlier, residents of the area, a virtual no-go zone in the besieged

southern sector of the city, said as many as 30 Somalis may have been

killed when the Nigerians tried to shoot their way out of the ambush.

However, reporters said they saw only seven Nigerian bodies, stripped

of their uniforms and equipment by their attackers.

UN officials said one Nigerian soldier was missing after the attack,

which took place at Checkpoint Pasta, a flashpoint in south Mogadishu at

the heart of territory controlled by Aideed loyalists.

One of the two Pakistanis who went to the rescue of their colleagues

was critically injured, UN officials said.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ola Oyinlola, head of Nigeria's 550-strong UN

contingent, said the Italians had failed to fire ''a single shot'' when

a company of his men went to an Italian-manned checkpoint.

The attack brought the UN death toll to 46 since an

ambush by Aideed loyalists launched a guerrilla war on June 5. More

than 100 Somalis have died in the violence.

The UN representative for Somalia, retired US Admiral Jonathan Howe,

said it was a ''premeditated ambush'' by Aideed's gunmen and said:

''This will not go unpunished.''

UN officials tried to play down charges by Lieutenant-Colonel Oyinlola

that Italian troops at the checkpoint half a mile away had failed to

come to the Nigerians' rescue.

Lieutenant-Colonel Oyinylola said two companies of Nigerian troops

were travelling to the checkpoint to man it jointly with Italian troops

for a few days before the Italians withdrew.

He said his men were surrounded by a stone-throwing mob who said the

Italians had made agreements on manning the checkpoint with local elders

about which he knew nothing.

''We arrived there and I knew nothing about it (the arrangements).

They (the Somalis) said we had to meet the elders that afternoon.''

Somali residents said Italian troops held talks with local elders

after three Italians were killed in a July 2 ambush

at Checkpoint Pasta which caused a row between Rome and the UN over

the military leadership of the UN force.

Residents said the Nigerians fired in the air to disperse a crowd

which gathered round their vehicle about half a mile from the

checkpoint. ''The elders told the Nigerian commander to go away because

'we don't want to fight you'. But the Nigerians opened fire and the

angry crowd reacted,'' one elder told Reuters.

Gunmen shouting SNA, Aideed's Somali National Alliance, opened fire as

the Nigerians tried to retreat. They got about half a mile before they

were killed.

Several hours later, Italian commander General Bruno Loi reached the

scene in an attempt to recover the soldiers' bodies.

United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said in a

message to the families of the Nigerians that they were brave men who

had died fighting for peace and that their deaths showed a need for the

disarmament of Somalia.

Italian troops are due to withdraw from the capital this week because

of UN allegations that they only obey orders from Rome.

Aideed has been in hiding since the UN issued a warrant for his arrest

over the killings of 24 Pakistani peace-keepers in June.

The SNA has disclaimed any responsibility for the latest cycle of

violence but UN officials say they are convinced that they are the work

of Aideed loyalists angry that their plans for him to take power have

been thwarted by a UN bluperint to bring democracy to Somalia after two

years of famine and war.

Aideed's ragtag, clan-based armies and allies drove dictator Mohamed

Siad Barre from power in 1991 then turned on each other in a war that is

thought to have killed 300,000 by hunger and bullet.