26 U.N. Troops Reported Dead in Somalia Combat

About two dozen Pakistani troops with the United Nations peacekeeping force were reported killed here today in combat against a warlord's fighters.

A general with the United Nations said he had received reports that as many as 26 Pakistani soldiers had been killed and that 10 were missing.

"The Pakistani toll is heavy," Gen. Bruno Loy of Italy told the Italian state television in the Somali capital. "There are reports of 26 dead, but that's tentative and not confirmed, and 10 missing and 50 injured."

The fighting, the worst in Mogadishu since anti-American riots in February, broke out after the Somali fighters apparently became enraged over rumors that the United Nation troops were planning to occupy the radio station controlled by the warlord, Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid.

A United Nations spokeswoman, Gail Bindley-Taylor Sainte, said tonight that she could not confirm the casualty figures, but said that United Nations officials in Mogadishu had confirmed that there were casualties. General Loy said Italian troops had picked up 30 of the wounded Pakistani soldiers. The city's two main hospitals reported that 23 Somalis had been killed and that more than 100 had been wounded.

The fighting broke out about 10 A.M. as United Nations troops, who took command of an American-led military coalition a month ago, began inspecting weapons-storage sites. As part of its mandate, the United Nations had taken the weapons from Somalis.

A spokesman for the United Nations, Farouk Mawlawi, said that General Aidid was informed of the inspections on Friday and that he did not object. One site to be inspected was near the radio station, and that brought rumors of its planned takeover. Maj. David Stockwell of the United States Army, spokesman for the United Nations force, and Mr. Mawlawi denied that there were any plans to seize the station, which broadcast anti-United Nation chants and songs this afternoon.

Machine-gun fire and grenade blasts echoed through the capital all day as United Nations troops, including Americans, battled with the Somali fighters. Some of the fiercest fighting occurred near a traffic circle in the city center, a hotspot since foreign troops arrived in Somalia in December to safeguard relief supplies for victims of war and famine.

General Loy said Italian troops, backed by a dozen tanks and armored personnel carriers and two helicopters, had rescued 80 Pakistanis who were surrounded by snipers in two areas in the city. The Italian Defense Ministry said 10 American soldiers had also been rescued.

[ Pakistan called for an urgent Security Council meeting after the attack, Reuters reported, and the Council scheduled consultations on the request for Sunday. ]

[ In Washington, an emergency meeting of the Interagency Working Group on Somalia was called to assess the situation, said Robert Gosende, the American special envoy to Mogadishu. Mr. Gosende, who was in Washington to attend a State Department conference, said reports from the United States liaison office in Mogadishu indicated that about 20 Pakistani troops had been killed in the fighting, with 55 wounded, including two American soldiers. He said United States helicopter gunships had offered support to the Pakistani brigade in fighting that included the use of rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and heavy machine guns by Somali fighters. ]

Among the United Nations troops facing combat was an American quick-reaction force, a 1,100-member team mostly composed of soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division, based in Fort Drum, N.Y.

The American-led multinational force arrived in Mogadishu in December to protect relief supplies intended for victims of Somalia's civil war and famine, which killed an estimated 350,000 people last year. The United States handed over control of the operation to the United Nations last month and has withdrawn the bulk of its troops, although there are still 4,000 American troops here among the 18,000 foreign troops.