Al-Qaida attack kills at least 13 at Somalia UN compound

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Seven al-Qaida-linked militants on a suicide mission attacked the UN compound Wednesday with a truck bomb and then poured inside, killing at least 13 people before dying in the assault.

At least three foreigners were slain during the raid in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, where the United Nations expanded its presence this year, about 18 months after Islamic insurgents were pushed from the seaside city.

The militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, calling the UN "a merchant of death." African Union forces expelled al-Shabab from Mogadishu in August 2011, ending years of daily violence that had caused the rest of the world to shun the capital for two decades.

After the ouster of al-Shabab, the international community had started trickling back into the capital, and the UN began moving in its personnel from Kenya, a process that accelerated in recent weeks.

The attack yesterday, however, underscores the fragile security situation.

UN deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey said one U.N. international staff member, three contractors, and four Somali security guards died inside the compound. A number of Somali civilians were also killed and wounded outside the compound, del Buey said at UN headquarters.

Two of the dead were South Africans from the company Denel Mechem who were working to get rid of land mines, said Vuyelwa Qinga, a spokeswoman for Denel, a manufacturer of defense equipment.