Friday, September 18, 2009 MOGADISHU: Twin suicide bombings ripped through the headquarters of African Union peacekeepers in Somalia Thursday, killing 14 soldiers in the deadliest such attack against the force. "At least two bombs" exploded at the force's headquarters in a fortified compound at Mogadishu airport, the AU said in a statement, which condemned what it called a "barbaric attack" in which at least 15 other soldiers were wounded. Rebels claimed responsibility for the attack. "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 spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Felix Kulayigye said. Ten Burundi soldiers were killed, the country's army spokesman Lazare Nduhayo told media, raising an ealier toll of nine to 14. "Five soldiers died on the spot and five others succumbed to their injuries," he said in Bujumbura. The peacekeepers' commander, General Nathan Mugisha, who took up his post only last month, suffered minor injuries. The circumstances surrounding the attack were unclear Thursday but witnesses said the bombers entered the compound using two vehicles with United Nations markings.Kulayigye, who said Mugisha was about to host negotiations at the compound, said the bombers had got in "with a group that was coming for talks". He did not elaborate.United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the blast in the "strongest terms." Somali government spokesman Abdulkadir Walayo condemned the "terrorist" attack, which he said was carried out by "two criminals using previously robbed UN cars."
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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