Johannesburg- At least two South Africans were killed in an attack on the UN compound in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Wednesday.
Denel Mechem, the company the two worked for, were part of a South African contingent working on demining operations in the country.
Denel spokeswoman Vuyelwa Qinga, speaking on behalf of group chief executive Riaz Saloojee, said the company had personnel in Mogadishu trying to ascertain who had been injured or killed in the attack.
“We have someone on the ground, but they are having difficulty getting access to the area as it is currently being treated as a crime scene,” she said.
Qinga added that the names of the dead would be released once their families had been informed.
Denel Mechem had been contracted by the UN Development Programme to clear landmines in Somalia.
The attack deals a blow to fragile security gains that have allowed a slow return of foreign aid workers and diplomats.
The assault, claimed by Islamist group al-Shabaab, began before midday when a car bomb exploded outside the UN Development Programme’s base. Rebel gunmen forced their way into the compound and exchanged gunfire with guards.
The AU peacekeeping force, which sent soldiers and armoured vehicles to the compound, said it was back under control after a gunfight that lasted more than 90 minutes.
Interior Minister Abdikarim Hussein Guled said four foreign UN security staff and four local guards were killed in the gun battle, which also left seven insurgent fighters dead.
An ambulance service official said his crew carried away seven dead civilians, bringing the total number of dead to 22.
It was the first significant attack on UN premises by al-Shabaab since they were driven out of Mogadishu in fighting with AU and Somali government forces two years ago.
More than a million Somalis live in crisis conditions, according to the UN, which has started building up offices and international staff after security improved.
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, in a phone call to Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, said he was “outraged by the despicable attack”.
Al-Shabaab accused the UN of serving US interests.
“The UN, a merchant of death and a satanic force of evil, has a long, inglorious record of spreading nothing but poverty, dependency and disbelief,” al-Shabaab said on its Twitter feed @HSMPRESS1.
A UN official said some Western nations that had been keen to support the Western-leaning government elected last year had played down dangers posed by al-Shabaab and its ability to infiltrate the security forces and attack the capital.
“This is part of the consequence of over-optimism in some Western nations that has overshadowed the need to look at deeper problems before rolling out any kind of UN mission,” said the official.
He said the government had not done enough to overhaul its security forces.
The top UN official in Somalia, Nicholas Kay, said there were lessons to be learnt, but that the UN would not be deterred from its mission.
Asked if UN staff would be evacuated from Mogadishu, Kay said: “No. The UN is here to help and we are here to stay.”
The initial bomb blast sprayed masonry and twisted metal across the road that links the nearby airport, which serves as the main base for the AU peacekeepers, and the city centre.
The Somali regime condemned the attack and offered its “deepest sympathy to all victims”.
The raid was a copycat of a strike on Mogadishu’s law courts in April, when gunmen detonated suicide vests during a gun battle with security forces.
Interior Minister Guled confirmed on Wednesday that some of the assailants blew themselves up.
The Star