Back in '93 @ishaheen10's and my father served with the UN in Somalia. As the senior most officers of the Pakistani mission, they kept the peace while fighters of Somali warlord General Farah Aidid attacked UN troops every day. On 5th June 1993, Farah Aidid 1/n

ordered an attack on a Pakistani inspection team killing 24 men troops. Farah Aidid became the UN's no. 1 enemy that day. His troops would openly threaten Pakistani officers over the radio networks in Mogadishu 2/n

"Col Asif we will kill you" the fighters would announce knowing my dad could hear them. I hated Farah Aidid with a vengeance and held on to the memory of our troops killed in the line of duty. On Oct 3, '93 American forces launched a raid to capture Farah Aidid that went 3/n

horribly wrong. Two Black Hawks were shot down and 19 Americans were killed in a single day. The Pakistani UN force fought a pitched battle through the streets of Mogadishu to rescue the trapped Americans. The Battle of Mogadishu was later turned into a film "Black Hawk Down" 4/n

The UN mission failed to bring peace to Somalia and withdrew in '95. Farah Aidid was never captured and died in '96 after being shot in a clash with another warlord. I was relieved to see that man go given he was responsible for so many deaths.

Why did I share this story? 5/n

Yesterday, Farah Aidid's grandson walked into a dental clinic in Denver, CO for his cleaning appointment. The dentist was my brother Dr. Zarrar Duraiz. Fucking hell. What were the odds of that happening? 6/6

This thread blew up: Thank you! Here is some more info about this forgotten UN mission: Pakistan moved an entire Brigade (6 BDE, now based in Nowshera) to Somalia. It's regiments were 19L, 7FF, 15FF, 10Balouch, 1 Sindh, and 6 Punjab (not all at the same time). 7/n

The tanks used by 19L were old American tanks that Pakistanis operated. US Army's own request to bring US Armor (M1As) was declined some time before the Oct 3 '93 mission. As a result the US Sec Def (L Aspin) resigned after US troops were killed in combat 8/n

The Somalis initially hailed Pakistani presence. Brig Ikram (Bde Cmdr) and my father used to drive around Mogadishu without protection and would often be greeted by "Pakistan Zindabad" chants by locals when they spotted a Pakistani flag on the vehicle. 9/n

The 24 troops killed on 5th June were manning food and cloth distribution centers. They were not expecting/prepared for Somali ambushes that day. They fought till their little ammunition ran out, were killed in cold blood and their bodies mutilated by militia fighters. 10/n

Post 5 Jun Pakistani UN troops fired and killed Somali protestors on a number of occasions - partly out of anger/revenge, partly because they were jittery. Somali militias mixed with crowds and didn't shy away from using women and children as human shields to fire on UN 11/n

5 Jun '93 was a turning point. As UN retaliated, Aidid grew more popular, and the bond between Pakistani peacekeepers and Somali public broke down. Op Gothic Serpent (3 Oct '93) was the final nail in the coffin. That's my dad on the right. 12/n