4 UPDF soldiers killed in Somalia

New Vission Tuesday,07 June, 2011 FOUR UPDF peacekeepers, including Lt. Col Patrick Tibihwa, have been killed in the volatile Somali capital Mogadishu. Tibihwa, who was the commanding officer of the 23 battalion, was hit by a stray bullet as he inspected the newly captured areas around Bondhere district on Saturday. Tibihwa is the highest ranking UPDF officer to be killed in Mogadishu. He hails from Nyamahunza village, Mukunyu sub-county in Kasese district. In a statement, army spokesperson Maj. Felix Kulaigye identified the other AMISOM casualties as Lt. Lawrence Tugume from the Tank battalion, Cpl. Isabirye Abdalla and Pte. Augustine Kuloba. The three were hit by a motor shell fired at insurgents . Tugume hails from Rwozi II Village, Kitura sub-county in Kiruhura district. Isabirye was from Kirasa village, Buruli county in Masindi district, while Kuloba hails from Bubungi village, Busiika sub- county in Bududa district. AMISOM, which comprises 9,000 Ugandan and Burundian troops, has been deployed in Mogadishu since 2007 to support the fragile Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. In a series of operations carried out since February, AMISOM troops have pushed back the al-Shabaab on the two main frontlines in Mogadishu and now control about half of the capital. Since launching a joint offensive with government forces against Al Qaeda-inspired al-Shabaab extremists in February, Amisom has reclaimed swathes of Mogadishu. The weekend casualties are the latest Ugandan soldiers to die in an ongoing successful offensive against the al-shabaab insurgents in Mogadishu. UPDF explained that the soldiers were killed during mopup operations after the capture of Bondere. According to AMISOM spokesman Col. Paddy Ankunda, the TFG now controls Dhenkenley, Wadajir, Hoden and Bondere. Other TFG controlled places are Medina Hamer Jabjab, Xamar Wayne, Shangami, Abdulaziz and Wadari districts, which make up over 70% of Mogadishu. In addition to the mortars, the extremists use suicide bombers and roadside bombs to attack AMISOM troops. “Most of the attacks carry no warning. A mortar shell, fired from over 2kms away, can land anywhere and at anybody. In fact, most of the casualties incurred by AMISOM are not from direct fighting, but from mortars and improvised explosives. They attacked us from roof tops, trenches and tunnels. The attacks are sporadic which creates a fragile situation here,” one of the peace keepers explained in a recent press interview. Last week, President Yoweri Museveni said he would prefer the extension of TFG for one year as opposed to proposals for acrimonious presidential elections or declaring expiry of all transitional federal institutions (TFIs) in which case AMISOM would withdraw. “Certainly for Uganda, we cannot be in that kind of situation. The consequences of an AMISOM withdrawal are so serious to think about. The consequences of AMISOM withdrawal will be grave, leaving Somalia in anarchy, Museveni said.