Thread by @GuyVanVlierden

Sometime in the 1990s, an al-Qaida scout wrote about an attack on Belgian soldiers in Somalia, in a report to Osama Bin Laden. We investigated which attack it could be - and who would be among the first Europeans killed by al-Qaida as a result (1/18) hln.be/nieuws/onderzo…

Background: Somalia was ravaged by a civil war at the time and the UN peacekeepers operating there under the name UNOSOM - mostly from the United States - included Belgian blue helmets (2/18)

The Western, and in particular American, presence motivated Osama Bin Laden to gain a foothold in Somalia - by training militias already present, regardless of their ideology (3/18)

This strategy led to the 'Black Hawk Down' debacle, recounted in Ridley Scott's 2001 Hollywood picture, in which 19 US servicemen were killed and dragged through the streets of Mogadishu by al-Qaida trained insurgents (4/18)

Our search was based on an undated writing titled "A short report on the trip from Nairobi to Cape Kambooni and the situation in the southern region", signed by Omar al-Sumali (5/18)

It was later found during operations against al-Qaida and is part of the US Department of Defense's Harmony database, made available for research by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point (6/18) ctc.usma.edu/harmony-progra…

Omar al-Sumali was none other than Saif al-Adel, then already a close confidant of Osama Bin Laden, and now considered first in line for succession to al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri (7/18) ctc.usma.edu/al-qaidas-soon…

"On the way to our camp, our brothers heard the engine noise of a Belgium patrol car, stopped the car and shot one of them in the head", he wrote. "Another was shot in the leg, and a third was also shot. A lot of bullets were used and there was a lot of blood shed" (8/18)

In 1998, US President Bill Clinton stated in a speech that al-Qaida had already killed "American and Belgian soldiers". Which caused surprise in Belgium at the time because no one knew what facts he was talking about (9/18)

There had been one incident with three Belgian casualties in Somalia. But they drove their vehicle into a landmine. So, no direct confrontation, and it happened on March 12, 1993, when al-Qaida had just arrived and probably wasn't operational yet (10/18)

A commander of the Belgian UNOSOM forces told us about an ambush on July 22, 1993, after which two soldiers were transferred to Belgium "more dead than alive". But they miraculously survived. Looking for a lethal incident, there's only one possibility left (11/18)

It is the October 3, 1993 attack in which 27 y/o Sergeant-Aviator Jürgen Fraussen died, which the report by Saif Al-Adel is likely about. An incident that happened on the same day as Black Hawk Down, but that is probably just a coincidence (12/18)

Fraussen, pictured here in Somalia, was one of three Belgians in an Alouette helicopter on a reconnaissance mission, noticing armed fighters on the ground. The helicopter fired warning shots, after which the fighters fled, abandoning their weapons (13/18)

The helicopter grounded copilot Fraussen and his gunner to collect the weapons. But when they also wanted to inspect a nearby settlement, Fraussen was shot from one of the buildings and died. Gunner and pilot escaped unharmed (14/18)

There are major differences with the report by Al-Adel, of course. But the fact that he mentioned three casualties, may be due to terrorists' tendency to exaggerate their success. Just look at many claims of terrorist attacks. Three Belgians were involved (15/18)

The fact that a helicopter in one story becomes a car in the other, may have been caused by difficult communication between local fighters and their foreign leader, who was clearly not on the scene himself. Further on in the report, Belgian aircraft is mentioned (16/18)

Certainty may no longer be attainable, but it seems more than likely to us that Fraussen was killed by al-Qaida. Which would make him the second European victim, as far as we know, after an Austrian tourist killed in the December 29, 1992 Aden hotel bombings in Yemen (17/18)

Anyway, may he rest in peace. Like all other victims of war and terrorism. Finally, a word of thanks to the Fraussen family for their permission to use Jürgen's photos, and to retired Commander-Aviator Willy Van Caelenberge for his valuable input (18/18)