Black Hawk down

Late in the afternoon of Sunday, 3 October 1993, 140 elite US soldiers abseiled from helicopters into a teeming market neighbourhood in the heart of the city of Mogadishu, Somalia.

Their mission was to abduct two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord and return to base.

It was supposed to take them about an hour. Instead, they were pinned down through a long and terrible night in a hostile city, fighting for their lives against thousands of heavily armed Somalis.

When the unit was rescued the following morning, 18 American soldiers were dead and more than 70 badly injured.

The Somali toll was far worse - more than 500 killed and over 1000 injured.

Authoritative, and insightful, "Black Hawk Down" is a minute-by-minute account of modern war.

This story is now a major motion picture directed by Ridley Scott, and starring an ensemble cast including Josh Hartnett, Ewen McGregor, Jason Isaacs, Tom Sizemore, Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana, Ron Eldard, Jeremy Piven and Sam Shepherd.