U.N. Launches 2nd Aerial Attack on Somali Warlord : Africa: Raid led by U.S. aircraft appears aimed near Aidid’s compound. Clinton calls first offensive a justifiable response to ‘savage attack’ on peacekeepers.

WASHINGTON —  U.N. forces launched a second overnight attack on Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid early today after an earlier air and ground assault that destroyed most of Aidid’s arsenal and demonstrated the United Nations’ ability to back its mandates with military force.

Explosions rocked the capital, Mogadishu, beginning about 12:45 a.m. local time (2:45 p.m. PDT) and lasting about 20 minutes, the Associated Press reported. After the shelling ended, small-arms fire was heard in the streets and fires were said to be spreading. There were no immediate reports of casualties. At least one person was reported killed in the earlier strike.

Pentagon officials in Washington confirmed that U.S. aircraft and helicopters were participating in a second strike but declined to elaborate. The firing by AC-130H Spectre gunships and Cobra helicopters appeared to be directed near Aidid’s residential compound, which was not targeted during an initial U.N. offensive executed roughly 24 hours earlier.

Both attacks were staged in retaliation for a June 5 ambush in which 23 Pakistani peacekeepers were killed and three Americans injured. U.N. officials have blamed the killings on Aidid, who heads one of the principal factions in Somalia’s internecine warfare.

“This is part of an ongoing operation,” Madeleine Albright, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said of the latest attack in an interview broadcast by CBS on Saturday evening. “The U.N. is there to restore order.”

There was no immediate word on the fate of Aidid following the second round of firing early today.

Aidid reportedly was in his central Mogadishu villa about midnight Friday just before the first raid but apparently escaped after the fighting began early Saturday morning.

U.N. forces conducted a concerted ground search for Aidid in Mogadishu on Saturday, apparently without success. Americans were not involved in the search.

However, U.N. officials in Mogadishu denied Pentagon reports that the main objective of the raids was to arrest the renegade general.

U.S. military officials, however, left little doubt that they already consider Aidid guilty of masterminding last weekend’s attacks and that the military operation would eventually involve arresting him for trial.

President Clinton proclaimed the initial action a success in a radio address Saturday, characterizing it as a justifiable response to the “savage attack” on U.N. peacekeeping forces a week earlier.

“The United Nations and the United States refuse to tolerate this ruthless disregard for the will of the international community,” Clinton said.

The retaliatory strike was the first military action authorized by Clinton, and was intended as a clear signal of U.S. and U.N. resolve. Administration officials were fearful that unless the United Nations responded vigorously to last weekend’s ambush, it would lose credibility not only in Somalia but in other peacekeeping operations around the world.

The first strike, which included sorties by AC-130H gunships and sweeps by U.S. and U.N. ground troops, dealt a “very significant military setback” to Aidid and his militia, according to senior defense officials.

“Certainly it’s a lesson . . . to all the warlords” in Somalia, a defense official said.

But officials cautioned that it is still too early to say precisely what impact the action would have on Aidid’s ability to challenge U.N. peacekeeping efforts in the future, saying that much would depend on what happens in the next few days.

The initial 10 1/2-hour military operation, which included forces from the United States, France, Italy, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Kuwait, targeted three weapons centers, a radio station and a staging area known as “the cigarette factory.”

Defense officials said after-battle reconnaissance showed that all five targets were hit, the weapons and ammunition were confiscated or destroyed, the radio station was disabled, and the areas were occupied by U.N. troops.

“It’s no longer a problem,” one official told reporters.

Officials said there were no U.S. or U.N. casualties, and no official reports of Somali casualties or “collateral” damage to buildings that were not specifically targeted.

But wire service reports said the three main hospitals in southern Mogadishu reported four Somalis dead and at least 20 wounded. Only one of the dead was believed killed in the military strikes, however. The others were killed in clashes with peacekeepers later Saturday.

Reports from Mogadishu suggested that the city was relatively quiet during the day Saturday following the first allied show of force, and Pentagon briefers said the local markets were open and things were “pretty much business as usual.”

Wire service dispatches said there were some protests from Aidid supporters, and Pakistani peacekeeping forces fired on stone-throwing demonstrators as they marched toward U.N. headquarters in the capital, resulting in one of the deaths reported by the hospitals.

The Italian Defense Ministry reported that Italian troops in Somalia had captured a top Aidid aide, but it refused to provide his name.

Many Somalis appeared to support the U.N. moves. Mohammed Ali, a translator, told the Associated Press that no more than “.05%” of the Somali people resent the United Nations. Before the United Nations moved in, “we had no food, we were starving,” he said.

The Pentagon said the first attack in Mogadishu was carried out by three AC-130H Spectre gunships, four AH-1W Cobra attack helicopters, and ground forces.

The U.S. ground unit, designated as a quick-reaction force, comprises 1,200 soldiers from the Army’s 10th Mountain Light Infantry Division.

Officials said the operation was carried out in three stages. First, Pakistani forces swept the city to make sure there would be no smuggling or hostage-taking. The gunships then destroyed the major targets. Finally, ground forces went on patrol.

U.S. officials had said initially that only two of the AC-130Hs had participated in the assault, but they corrected the figure Saturday.

The weapons warehouses that the U.N. forces destroyed contained guns, tanks and even some TOW missiles that Aidid had “voluntarily” deposited to comply with U.N. demands. Under a recent peace accord, all of Somalia’s warlords agreed to take similar action.