Ban 'shocked' over UN office attack in Somalia
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is "shocked" at the news of an attack on a
UN compound in Somalia on Wednesday, his spokesman said.
"The Secretary-General is aware of the attack against the United Nations
in Somalia, and he is shocked by it," Martin Nesirky, the spokesman,
said in an e-mail. "He is being updated regularly as we get more
information from Mogadishu and UN Headquarters in New York."
Ban is currently on a
visit to China for talks with the country's leaders. Earlier Wednesday
he held talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping.
Three foreigners and at least two Somali security guards were killed
during the attack by Islamist insurgents in Mogadishu, UN sources said.
One UN staff member and two contractors as well as at least two Somalis
guarding the fortified compound died, the sources said, taking the toll
killed -- excluding attackers -- to at least eight. The nationalities of
the foreigners could not be immediately confirmed.
