THREAD (HISTORICAL): Feb 1993,Somalia.
Nigerian Troops Of The 245 Reece Battalion (Commanded By Lt Col Olagunsoye Oyinlola) + US MARINES Halted Sniper-Led Shootings In Mogadishu
IN FOCUS : Lieutenant Armide Gibson’s Platoon (almost certainly pictured below)
Start..
Nigerian Troops Of The 245 Reece Battalion (Commanded By Lt Col Olagunsoye Oyinlola) + US MARINES Halted Sniper-Led Shootings In Mogadishu
IN FOCUS : Lieutenant Armide Gibson’s Platoon (almost certainly pictured below)
Start..
1. Three U.S. Marines and two Nigerian soldiers were wounded in today's fighting. There were no reports of casualties among aid workers or U.S. diplomats and no clear indication of Somali casualties. Two Marines were wounded in rampages by youthful Somali mobs on Wednesday
2. Shooting started here this morning before dawn, at 4:15, when Nigerian soldiers on the roof of the Sahafi Hotel, where foreign journalists and senior German diplomats are staying, said they were fired on by snipers hiding in buildings across the street.
3. The Nigerian troops responded with a 15-minute barrage from rifles and machine guns, punctuated by the deeper roar of a rocket-propelled grenade.
4. Peck said the Nigerian soldiers got caught in the middle of a firefight between rival Somali factions, but Nigerian Lt. Armide Gibson said his forces were being fired upon from a building across the street that has been used by Aideed's party police.
5. The Nigerians, faced with reports that gangs intended to force their way into the hotel and loot it, responded with a massive amount of firepower.
6. The Marines estimated that at least 90 percent of the shots fired during the day came from the Nigerian soldiers shooting at a row of four buildings they said were being used by snipers.
7. After one incoming round, Lt. Gibson, interviewed by four reporters sprawled on the floor of a hotel corridor, said, "That's a Kalashnikov, and we do not use Kalashnikovs."
8. When his men fired a round from a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, Gibson said, "We are trying to deter them very forcefully."
9. Soon after the firing stopped, U.S. Marines on foot and in amphibious assault vehicles swept house-to-house through the neighborhood of the hotel searching for weapons.
10. By that time, Mogadishu was calm and sunny, and the Marines met no resistance as they moved down paved streets and dirt alleys. Kids even smiled at them instead of throwing rocks as they did on Wednesday.
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