A remote-controlled bomb killed four Ugandan peacekeepers and a civilian in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday as Islamist militants followed through on a threat to wage an Iraq-style insurgency.
Five peacekeepers and two children were also wounded in the attack on the African Union convoy, which an AU security source said was the first of its kind against the 1,600-strong Ugandan contingent - who had previously only been shot at.
"It was a roadside bomb and its intention was to hit peacekeepers," AU mission spokesman Captain Paddy Ankunda said. The injured soldiers will be evacuated to Uganda's capital Kampala. "Some of them are seriously wounded," Ankunda said. Suspicion immediately fell on Islamist rebels who have waged a guerrilla campaign in Mogadishu since the interim government and its Ethiopian allies seized control of the capital from them in late December.
On Wednesday, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said his troops would not leave the country until several thousand more AU peacekeepers arrived to avoid a security vacuum. "It Is a burden financially and otherwise that we would have preferred to do without," Meles told Reuters in an interview.
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