Monday, January 23, 2012
This newspaper was told that Capt. Julius Wandaba and a colleague were shot dead during an Amisom offensive against the insurgents on Friday. The particulars of the other dead colleague were not immediately available but another soldier was injured, the army said.
There was no word on fatalities or casualties suffered by al-Shabaab fighters, who in August last year, fled from Mogadishu following heavy shelling by Amisom troops on their strongholds.
Col. Felix Kulayigye, the UPDF spokesman, confirmed they lost two soldiers in the Friday battle a few kilometres outside Mogadishu city centre, but declined to give their particulars.
“We first need to inform their relatives,” he said, suggesting the bodies could be flown in by today. It was not immediately clear why relatives had not been notified more than 48 hours after the soldiers’ demise.
Mr Richard Siango said a friend in Somalia telephoned them on Friday to informally convey the sad news of the killing, at the battlefield, of his younger brother Wandaba.
Tense moment for relatives
Earlier reports suggested he was
injured and had been hospitalised, and his family in Mbale relaxed a bit
hoping he would recuperate. At about 5pm on Friday, however, another
contact sent a short text message on the mobile phone of a family
friend, announcing the passing on of the Captain, according to Mr
Siango.
“We have not got any official communication from the army, he told Daily Monitor by telephone on Saturday. “He (Wandaba) was a hard-working, straight and objective person.”
The deceased joined the military in 2002 and was previously deployed in South Sudan, DR Congo and Central African Republic, relatives said.
During the weekend telephone conversation, Mr Siango said a UPDF officer told them that the body of Capt. Wandaba and his colleague would likely not be brought home until tomorrow.