Battle of Checkpoint Pasta

Battle of Checkpoint Pasta
Part of the Somali Civil War and the UNOSOM II mission
Date2 July 1993[1]
Location
Mogadishu, Somalia[1]
Result Italian breakthrough from the encirclement[2]
Belligerents
Italy
Somalia		 SNA
Commanders and leaders
Bruno Loi
Ali Mahdi Muhammad[citation needed]		 Mohamed Farrah Aidid[3]
Strength
550 Italian troops + 400 Somali policeman[4] Around 600 rebel Somali militiamen[5]
Casualties and losses
3 killed
22 wounded[6]		 67 killed[7]
187 wounded[7]

The Battle of Checkpoint Pasta,[1] sometimes called the Battle of the Pasta Factory, was a firefight in Mogadishu between Italian troops and Somali rebels, and is remembered for being the first all-out battle involving the Italian Army since the end of the Second World War.[8]

The battle took place near the Italian checkpoint called "Pasta", because it was located near an abandoned Barilla pasta factory across the intersection of Imperial Street and 21 October Street, after an ambush on Italian forces was set up by Somali rebels led by General Mohamed Aidid.

The Italian units eventually broke the encirclement and withdrew.

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference european was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Mannucci 2004, pp. 79–80
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference aidid was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "2 luglio 1993: la Battaglia". Archived from the original on 7 July 2012.
  5. ^ "Checkpoint Pasta: 2 luglio 1993". Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference strategic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ a b "Puntata de "La Storia Siamo Noi" dedicata alla battaglia del pastificio". Archived from the original on 10 December 2008.
  8. ^ Somalia, la battaglia al check-point Pasta. Il racconto del generale Loi vent'anni dopo (In Italian)