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Insurgents Attack UPDF

The Monitor (Kampala)

NEWS
28 May 2008
Posted to the web 28 May 2008

By Rodney Muhumuza and Agencies
Kampala
Ugandan peacekeepers in Somalia battled insurgents on Monday night, in an
attack that left at least eight people dead and dozens more injured.
But the insurgents, who used rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, were
repulsed by the peacekeepers, according to Maj. Paddy Ankunda, the army
spokesman in Kampala.
"At least no Ugandan died, not even one," Maj. Ankunda said yesterday. "There
is no cause for alarm. You realise that on all occasions they have attempted to
attack our soldiers they have been beaten up."
But Maj. Ankunda could not say whether any Ugandan peacekeepers were injured in
the fight, the latest in a series of attacks that have been plotted and
executed by militants opposed to the presence of foreign troops in Somalia.
Maj. Ankunda said only five Ugandan peacekeepers had died since Ugandan troops
entered Somalia under the auspices of the African Union last year. Another
eight have been injured, Maj. Ankunda said.
"We knew that we were not welcome to some people there [even before we entered
Somalia]," the army publicist said.
A Reuters report quoted Capt. Barigye Bahoku, who speaks for AMISOM, as saying
that two insurgents were killed in the course of the overnight attack.
The identities of the other dead remained unclear. "An unknown group attacked
us, but we chased and killed two of them," Capt. Bahoku told Reuters. "First
they fired four rocket-propelled grenades at us and then [with] machine guns,
but there were no casualties from our side. We have not killed any civilians
but aimed at those who attack us using small arms."
The attack came a day after a hard-line Islamist leader linked to al Qaeda,
Sheikh Hassan Abdullah Hersi al-Turki, reportedly warned that rebels would
continue to attack foreign troops active in Somalia.
Reuters, quoting an eyewitness, reported that some civilians were caught in the
crossfire. "Mortar shells from Ugandans killed all these people as Islamists
were fighting from the gate of our building," witness Fatuma Olow told Reuters.

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