A roadside bomb killed a Ugandan soldier yesterday morning and injured two others while on foot-patrol in the Somali Capital, MogadishuThe spokesperson of African Union Mission in Somalia, Maj. Barigye Ba-Hoku, told Daily Monitor on phone from Mogadishu that the peacekeepers were patrolling the city.“It was an improvised explosive device that exploded and killed one of our soldiers who were patrolling in Afixione,” he said.Maj. Ba-Hoku, however, dismissed reports that Islamist fundamentalists had killed the peacekeeper in the mortar-attack on ships allegedly carrying AMISOM weaponry at Mogadishu Seaport.Barbaric act“That is rubbish being fronted by the propagandists. This was a minor incident of an IED. We have no ships to carry weapons,” he said.He described the attack as “a barbaric act” by elements opposed to having a peaceful Somalia.At least 40 Ugandan peacekeepers have died in Somalia since 2007 when Uganda and Burundi deployed four battalions under AMISOM to support the beleaguered transitional government of Somalia.When asked whether the dead had been identified, Maj. Ba-hoku said they would first inform the family of the victim before giving his identity.
Each family of the soldiers killed on duty in Somalia is supposed to receive $50,000 (about Shs100m) as compensation but some families have not received their payments due to delays in the release of money by the African Union.
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