2 GIs Wounded by Somali Snipers

Snipers wounded two U.S. soldiers in the Somali capital Monday, and a Defense Department spokesman in Washington said both were in stable condition.

The soldiers, who were not identified, were undergoing treatment at the main U.S. field hospital in Mogadishu.

“The two were U.S. Army military policemen. One was hit in the arm and the other in the hand,” Navy Lt. Cmdr. Joe Gradisher said.

Meanwhile, at the heavily guarded U.N. headquarters in Mogadishu, special envoy Jonathan Howe complained that the escalation of violence has obscured the success of the humanitarian effort elsewhere in Somalia.

Howe said he still believes U.N. forces will be able to withdraw on schedule by May, 1995.

He said starvation has largely been eradicated in rural areas since the foreign military intervention began with a U.S.-led operation in December. Schools, shut down by anarchy and famine during two years of civil war, are open again, and harvests are picking up, he said.