A helicopter used by an African Union peacekeeping mission has crashed at the international airport in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, killing at least three people, authorities said.
The incident occurred at Aden Adde airport on Wednesday as the helicopter was trying to land, according to Artan Mohamed, the head of the immigration office at the airport.
The helicopter, which belonged to the Ugandan Air Force but was being operated by the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), had taken off from Baledogle Airfield in the Lower Shabelle region with eight people on board, he said.
The fate of the remaining five people on board has yet to be determined, said a Ugandan military spokesperson.
Witnesses described the helicopter plummeting to the ground and exploding, causing a fire.
Abdirahim Ali, who lives nearby, said he saw “a huge explosion and smoke everywhere” while aviation officer Omar Farah told The Associated Press news agency that he “saw the helicopter spinning and then it fell very fast”.
Minor delays were reported at the airport, but the director-general of the country’s civil aviation authority said that flights had resumed.
“The situation is under control. The runway is clear and fully operational – flights can land and take off as usual,” Ahmed Macalin Hassan noted.
The AUSSOM mission has more than 11,000 personnel in Somalia from countries including Uganda and Kenya.
They are helping the Somali military to counter the armed group al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda affiliate that wants to topple the country’s government and establish its own rule.
This week, the Somali army killed a prominent leader from the group in the Middle Shabelle region, state media reported.
Quoting military sources, the Somali National News Agency said the leader was targeted during an operation in the Dar Nama’a area.
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