World IN BRIEF : SOMALIA : Looting, Gunfights Erupt in Capital

An orgy of looting and gunfights has been launched around U.N. bases in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, where peacekeepers were struggling to prevent mayhem just two days after U.S. forces pulled out. Razor wire, fences, tanks and sandbagged machine gun posts around the bases have not stopped determined Somalis. “There have been various incidents of looting at the airport and seaport. . . . There have been lapses in security,” a U.N. military spokesman, Maj. Chris Budge, told reporters. Budge said Somalis were cutting holes through wire fences around the U.N.-controlled airfield and slipping past Egyptian guards. At the seaport, they siphoned fuel from U.N. storage tanks and stole tires and office equipment.