Kampala: The Ugandan army said its troops had shot dead three Somali soldiers in Mogadishu, accusing them of opening fire on a military convoy carrying Uganda's peacekeeping commander.
UPDF said Somali troops opened fire on the convoy of Brigadier Paul Lokech, who heads the Ugandan contingent of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), during a lockdown on the capital after two bomb blasts killed dozens of people.
UPDF spokesman Brigadier Richard Karemire said his country's soldiers had retaliated in self-defence. "There is absolutely no reason why the AMISOM forces in their designated sector of responsibility should have been blocked and fired at en route back to the base after providing critical support and with some victims of the attack being quickly evacuated for urgent medical attention," he said.
"As the incident is being investigated, let it be clear that AMISOM rules of engagement provide for self-defence and anyone who fires at these forces becomes a target," he added. However Somali security official, Mohamed Ali, blamed the AMISOM convoy for the bloodshed. "There were about nine AMISOM military trucks involved in the incident, they were stopped by the officers at the checkpoint who were following instructions to stop all trucks due to lockdown but the AMISOM convoy commander ordered his juniors to forcefully pass by the checkpoint and opened fire on the soldiers," he said.
