[12] The situation deteriorated to such an extent for Somali law enforcement that the intervention by the Bravo column was necessary, which at that time was in the vicinity of the pasta factory along the Via Imperiale.

Sergeant Major Giampiero Monti was seriously injured in the abdomen and paratrooper Massimiliano Zaniolo received a bullet wound in his hand.

[4] Heavy armament was used only on two occasions: an unspecified number of M60s from a company of the 32nd Tank Regiment from the 132nd Armored Brigade "Ariete" opened fire on containers that served as a shield for the militiamen, causing great losses, and one of the Mangustas destroyed an Iveco VM 90 seized by the Somali militias with a TOW missile, killing all the rebels aboard.

[4] Among the men of the rescue column, the Second Lieutenant Andrea Millevoi, commander of a Centauro tank destroyer platoon of the 8th "Lancieri di Montebello" Regiment, was shot and killed as he leaned out of his vehicle to check out the area.

[3] Among the Italians wounded, there was also the then Second Lieutenant Gianfranco Paglia, paratrooper, who during the action was hit by three bullets while trying to rescue the crew of one of the immobilized armored cars.

[22][23] According to some reconstructions, never confirmed by official sources, the clashes erupted because the area of operations conducted by Italian forces was the refuge of General Mohammed Farah Aidid, one of the main Somali warlords and considered a major obstacle to reaching a peace agreement.