...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
helicopter seized by al-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...holy warriors in central Somalia this week, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on Friday.
The U.N.-contracted chopper with nine aboard was conducting a medical evacuation when a technical problem forced it to land near Hindhere village, an area controlled by the Islamist group.
"Our citizens were members of the helicopter crew of the UN Mission in Somalia. ... Their identities have been established," Ukrainian front man Oleh Nikolenko wrote on Facebook.
He said that the aircraft belonged to a private Ukrainian company contracted to the United Nations and that the government was contacting it to coordinate actions.
Security sources earlier told Rooters that nationals from Egypt, Uganda and Somalia were also on board. The sources asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Somalia’s government said on Thursday it was working to rescue the hostages, but military officers said it would be difficult in an area that has been under the al-Qaeda-affiliated group’s control for more than a decade.
An internal U.N. memo seen by Rooters said one person on the helicopter had allegedly been killed and six taken hostage. Two people fled and their whereabouts were not known, it said.
All U.N. flights in the area were suspended until further notice, the memo said.
Ugandan army representatives said they had no information. The Egyptian government could not be reached for comment.
Separately, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia said a U.N. guard had been killed in a mortar attack by suspected al-Shabaab holy warriors near the capital’s Aden Adde International Airport.
Mortar rounds landed on Thursday night inside the airport area where the U.N. compound is located, UNSOM said.
Al-Shabaab could not be reached for comment.
The holy warriors, who control vast areas of the south and center of Somalia, have been fighting the government since 2006 in an attempt to establish their own rule based on their interpretation of Islamic law.
| Garowe adds: |
At least nine people were in the United Nations Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS) aircraft at the time of the incident at Xiindhere town in Galmadug. Two managed to escape but the others were kidnapped by the militants, with reports indicating one has since been killed.
The UNSOS helicopter flew from Beledweyne and headed to Wisil in the Galgadud region with several foreigners and two locals who were taken hostage, according to Farah Diriye, Adado DC under Galmudug state who spoke to VOA Somali.
Officials say they believed al-Shabab militants captured most of the nine occupants. Their nationalities were not known, but they were attached to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM).
“It was a helicopter, it was carrying workers, and it was one of those helicopters that helped Somalia evacuate the wounded,” Farah Diriye Warsame, district commissioner of Adado town in Galmudug, told VOA Somali.
“I heard the helicopter had problems, and the pilot decided to land it rather than risk it blowing up in midair and has landed it safely,” Warsame said.
While other sources say the helicopter was carrying weapons for the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) troops and the Somali National Army (SNA), UNSOM said the aircraft was meant for medical evacuation in central Somalia where active operations against the militants are ongoing.