WORLD IN BRIEF : SOMALIA : U.S. Starts Pullout of Combat Troops

The United States began pulling out combat troops as a step toward total withdrawal from Somalia by the end of March. About 450 infantrymen of the 2nd Battalion, 10th Mountain Division, flew out of Mogadishu, the capital, on a chartered Boeing 747 en route to their home base, Ft. Drum, N.Y. The last 150 men of the battalion leave Somalia today. Some soldiers said they had found it hard to understand the twists and turns in U.S. policy. Their unit rescued U.S. Army Rangers pinned down by militiamen loyal to warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid on Oct. 3 and 4 in a battle in which 18 U.S. servicemen were killed. President Clinton later ordered a total U.S. withdrawal by March 31 after U.S. forces in Mogadishu became bogged down in clashes with Aidid’s fighters.