Somali Soldiers Attack, Loot U.S. Embassy

The State Department said Monday that Somali army looters fired rocket grenades at the U.S. Embassy in the capital of Mogadishu and sacked it hours after American and other diplomats were evacuated from that nation’s capital.

“Certainly there is no doubt” that the looters were soldiers in the armed forces of Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre, said a member of the department task force monitoring developments in the war-torn African nation.

About 300 Americans and others, including high-ranking diplomats, were whisked out of the embattled capital of Mogadishu on Saturday aboard U.S. helicopters and taken to warships waiting offshore.

Within hours, the embassy was sacked by looters who “used rocket-propelled grenades to blast down the doors and remove office furniture and other movables,” said department spokesman Richard Boucher.

Hundreds more foreigners were flown to safety Monday as fighting continued to rage in Mogadishu, and rebels trying to overthrow the government claimed they were on the verge of winning.

The whereabouts of embattled Siad Barre, who has ruled the nation in the Horn of Africa for 21 years, were unknown. The rebels said that if he is captured alive, they will try him and he could face the death penalty.

Somali government radio, which had been off the air since Saturday, broadcast an appeal from Siad Barre urging the rebels to agree to peace talks under Italian and Egyptian mediation. But the broadcast was identical to an appeal aired last week, raising suspicions that it was taped earlier.

In Abu Dhabi, diplomatic sources said Siad Barre’s family had fled to the United Arab Emirates and was seeking asylum. The sources initially said Siad Barre was with them but later said it was unclear.

The rebels, who began their offensive on Dec. 30, said they had captured the commander of anti-aircraft batteries in the city and that the area controlled by the government was “getting smaller.”