UN won't quit Somalia: Ban

UN chief Ban Ki-moon expressed outrage at a "despicable" Islamist attack on a UN compound in Somalia which left 16 dead but vowed that the organisation would not end its work in the troubled country.
Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents killed nine people as they shot and blasted their way into the UN compound in Mogadishu Wednesday, the most serious attack on the United Nations there in recent years.
Three foreigners including two South Africans in the UN compound died, along with a Somali UN worker, two Somali security guards and three civilians in the surrounding streets, officials said. Seven attackers also died in the assault.
Ban telephoned Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud soon after the attack, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
"The secretary general said the United Nations would not be deterred from delivering its mandate," said Nesirky, in a statement released from Beijing where Ban is on an official visit.
The 15-nation Security Council also expressed outrage -- but stressed its resolve "that terrorist acts in Somalia will not lessen the council's resolve to support Somalia's transition to peace and stability".
The insurgents, who boasted about the killings of "infidels", used a pickup truck laden with explosives and suicide attackers to blast their way into the fortified base.
Somali and African Union troops later moved into the complex -- despite the Islamists battling back with heavy gunfire -- to end the hour-and-a-half siege.