Several people were captured and at least one killed when a United Nations helicopter made a forced landing in a militant-controlled area of Somalia on Wednesday night.
The UN-chartered helicopter was flying from the city of Beletweyne in central Somalia to Wisil village in Galmudug state when it crash landed in nearby Habow village, in an area controlled by Al Shabab militants, a resident of the area told The National.
“The helicopter was carrying ammunitions and medicine to Wisil for government forces, but crash landed before reaching its destination. The terrorists seized it, looted the cargo, and burnt the plane. Some of those on board managed to escape but others were captured by Al Shabab,” Yunus Abdi told The National.
The UN confirmed the incident without offering details.
The Somali government said it was sending forces to the area on a search and rescue mission. The closest military base is said to be about 50km away.
Somali authorities offered conflicting accounts about the people on board the helicopter and their fate.
The government said the helicopter “had eight staff comprising of Somalis and foreigners”, while Galmudug's internal security minister, Mohamed Abdi Aden Gaboobe, said there were “seven passengers” of whom two managed to escape, including a Somali national.
The minister said the militants killed another person who attempted to escape and “took hostage the remaining individuals”.
Other, unconfirmed, reports said the helicopter was carrying four Ukrainian crew members and two medics – an Egyptian and a Somali, one of whom died in the crash while the other managed to flee.
The UN supports Somalia’s government and runs a fleet of aircraft out of the capital Mogadishu that are used to transport officials and military commanders, deliver food and munitions to government and African Union forces fighting Al Shabab, and to evacuate injured personnel. The UN-chartered helicopters are often flown by Ukrainian and Russian crews.
Al Shabab had not issued any statement about the incident by Thursday afternoon. The militants have a very slick public relations arm and an incident such as this would normally be all over social media.
The Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group operates in Somalia and the wider Horn of Africa. The group often kidnaps foreigners for ransom but rarely kills or harms hostages.
Al Shabab remains a threat despite renewed efforts by the Somali government to crush the group with the help of other countries. It still controls areas of central and southern Somalia and reportedly recently signed a deal with Somali pirates to provide protection in exchange for a cut from ransom received.
