1993 - Somalis paraded a US soldier’s corpse through Mogadishu in a barrow after battles in which five peacekeepers were killed, two helicopters shot down and 500 Somalis were wounded. At least one US soldier was captured alive and was being held hostage. It was the most violent 24 hours in the city since the killing of 24 Pakistani peacekeepers in an ambush on June 5 launched the war between warlord Mohammad Farah Aidid’s militia and the UN force.
Other major events on October 4
1830 - Belgium proclaims its independence from the Netherlands.
1910 - Portugal’s King Manuel II flees to England on outbreak of revolution in Lisbon.
1957 - Soviet Union puts the first spacecraft, Sputnik, into orbit around Earth, heralding the start of the space age.
1985 - Kidnapped US diplomat William Buckley is executed in Beirut.
1988 - Brazil enacts new constitution, completing long-awaited ‘transition to democracy’.
2003 - For the first time all Omani citizens above 21 years are given the right to vote for the 83-seat advisory council.
2008 - Poland hands control of an area south of Baghdad to US troops.
2017 - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits Iran in a sign of warming ties between the two countries.
