U.S. Helicopters Attack Site Held by Somali Warlord

U.S. attack helicopters fired rockets at clan positions in Mogadishu today, apparently trying to quell increasingly brazen skirmishes between rival groups.

Cobra AH-1 gunships could be seen firing missiles into buildings in northern Mogadishu, targeting positions held by Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid, one of Somalia’s two main warlords.

Marine Col. Fred Peck said the attack was mounted after a Marine patrol came under fire Wednesday afternoon in the outskirts of the Somali capital.

“That was the main catalyst,” Peck said, adding that the U.S. military late Wednesday evening told Aidid’s faction that the U.S. military planned to take the area and the men inside should surrender.

He said there were no American casualties and that U.S. Marines had secured most of the northwestern district by 9 a.m. Choppers continued to patrol the city well into the morning.

The area contained weapons, ammunition, tanks and “technical” battlewagons, Peck said.

“The Cobras moved in and we started taking a lot of machine-gun fire,” he said.

The several hundred troops on the mission responded with Tow missiles, rockets and machineguns in an exchange of fire which lasted about 40 minutes, Peck said.