Bloody Monday raid

Bloody Monday raid (Operation Michigan)
Bloody Monday raid (Operation Michigan)
Part of UNOSOM II
	Sign at anti-UNOSOM protest in Mogadishu depicting 'Bloody Monday'
Type	Air strike and Air assault
Location	Hodan District, Mogadishu, Somalia
Commanded by	Thomas M. Montgomery
Objective	Kill or capture of SNA leadership
Date	July 12, 1993; 10:18am – 10:35 (UTC+03:00)
Executed by	1st Bn, 22nd Infantry and 41st Bn Engineer of 10th Mountain Division, on behalf of UNOSOM II
Outcome	Significant casualties among Habar Gidir and other Somali National Alliance affiliated clans, leading to increased popular support for Aidid; ; Heightened anti-UN sentiment and escalated attacks on UNOSOM forces; Widespread international condemnation of the raid; Increased apprehension among UNOSOM II coalition members about the raid's provocative nature;
Casualties	UN forces casualties - none; Somali casualties:; UNOSOM II claim - 7 to 20 killed (All male combatants); Red Cross claim - 215 casualties, including 54 killed; Habar Gidir and SNA claim - 273 casualties, including 73 killed (women and children among deceased); Foreign journalists - 4 killed by mob after the raid

The Bloody Monday raid (Somali: Isniinta Dhiigii), also known as the Abdi House raid or Operation Michigan, was a US military operation that took place in Mogadishu on 12 July 1993, during the United Nations Operation in Somalia II (UNOSOM II) phase of the UN intervention in the Somali Civil War. Carried out by American QRF troops on behalf of UNOSOM II, the raid was the war's deadliest incident in Mogadishu to that point and a turning point in the UN operation. It inflamed anti-UN and anti-American sentiments among Somalis, galvanizing the insurgency that the US military faced during the Battle of Mogadishu three months later.

As part of the hunt for General Mohammed Farah Aidid after the attack on Pakistani peacekeepers on 5 June 1993, U.S. forces conducted a 17-minute raid on a villa owned by Aidid's Interior Minister, Abdi "Qeybdiid" Awale. The villa was hosting a gathering attended by high-ranking elders of the Habar Gidir and other major subclans, along with prominent members of the Aidid-led Somali National Alliance (SNA).

UNOSOM II claimed that the gathering was a war council composed of hardliners taking place at an SNA command center, making it a legitimate military target, but never produced evidence to justify its claims. In contrast, Somali accounts of the raid maintain that the meeting was a peace conference in which eminent elders, SNA moderates, and civilians convened to discuss a proposed diplomatic resolution to the escalating conflict between the SNA and UNOSOM II. The 12 July operation was heavily criticized by the UNOSOM II Justice Division, Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Organization of African Unity.

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