African Uinion force in Somalia (AMISOM) soldiers respond on June 19, 2013 to an attack on the UN compound in Mogadishu. By Mohamed Abdiwahab (AFP)
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AFP) - Somalia's Al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents shot and blasted their way into the United Nations compound in Mogadishu Wednesday, leaving nine people dead in the most serious attack on the UN in the troubled country in recent years.Three foreigners in the UN compound died in the attack, along with a Somali UN employee, two Somali security guards and three civilians in the surrounding streets, officials said.UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "shocked" by the brazen daylight raid while Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon condemned it as a "senseless and despicable attack on innocent UN civilians".Shebab fighters, who boasted about the killings of "infidels", used a pickup truck laden with explosives and suicide attackers to blast their way into the fortified base.Interior Minister Abdikarim Hussein Guled said seven Shebab fighters took part in attack, all of whom either detonated suicide vests or were shot dead.Security warnings of an attack have been in place for weeks, and UN staff regularly practise sheltering in a secure bunker inside the central Mogadishu compound."Our commandos attacked the UN compound... ...
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