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AU forces foil Somali suicide attack

27 April 2010 19:08 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. African Union peacekeepers foiled an attempted suicide attack on their base in the Somali capital on Tuesday when they opened fire on an explosives-laden car speeding towards them, an official said, APA reports quoting news.yahoo.com web-page.
Troops stationed in south Mogadishu trained fire on the vehicle after the occupants ignored warnings to stop, killing the three men inside, the forces’ spokesman Ba-Hoku Barigye told AFP.
"There was a suicide bomb attempt against our forces at a former bank building in Mogadishu. We destroyed the vehicle before it reached its target," Barigye said.
"We killed all the three would-be suicide bombers who were onboard the explosive-laden vehicle," he said, adding that three soldiers had sustained minor injuries.
Witnesses said the vehicle blew up close to the peacekeepers’ position.
The 5,000 strong AU force, comprising troops from Uganda and Burundi, is regularly targeted by hardline Islamist militias which have vowed to overthrow the internationally-supported transitional government.
In September, 17 peacekeepers were killed in twin bombings at the forces’ headquarters in the deadliest attack on the AU since it began deploying in the Somali capital in early 2007.