WASHINGTON, March 22 (UPI) -- As violence erupted in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, the blood that trailed the bodies wiping the streets repainted a somber picture of October 1993.
After two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters were shot down over Mogadishu, and a 15-hour battle, 18 American soldiers were mutilated and dragged through the streets of the city in 1993. The highly publicized event pushed former President Bill Clinton to pull U.S. troops out of the country.
In a gruesome re-enactment of 1993, Islamic militants dragged the bodies of Ethiopian and government soldiers through the dirt Wednesday. The attacks killed at least 16 people and wounded many more.
The bodies that lay burning on the roadsides are marks of the opposition to the transitional government. Ethiopian and Ugandan troops that replaced the Council of Islamic Courts six months ago have become a target for Islamist rebels.
Fourteen years ago the U.S. was trying to bring stability to the country but was instead met with violence that caused abandonment.
