Militia Leader Aidid Dead, Aides Confirm

Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid, the militia leader who helped draw Somalia into years of civil war, famine and virtual anarchy and whose forces killed 18 U.S. soldiers trying to hunt him down, has died. Aidid, who effectively forced U.N. peacekeepers to withdraw from Somalia in humiliation, died of a heart attack Thursday, his militia said. He had been reported shot during factional fighting last week. Thousands of weeping Somalis poured into the streets of south Mogadishu. The mourners lined the street leading to the Al Rahma mosque, where services for the 61-year-old general were held. He was buried in south Mogadishu.