By Enyichukwu Enemanna
No fewer than three persons have been feared dead, while eight others sustained injuries after a helicopter operated by the African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in Somalia crashed in the country’s Lower Shabelle Region on Saturday, the mission said in a statement on Sunday.
The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) said the helicopter, carrying 11 passengers including soldiers from Somalia military, was participating in training drills for casualty evacuation when the crash happened.
“Regrettably, three of the eleven passengers on board lost their lives. Eight injured officers have been evacuated to Mogadishu for urgent medical attention,” ATMIS said in the statement.
Investigations have commenced to determine the cause of the crash but the mission did not specify the nationalities of those killed and injured.
ATMIS is assisting Somalia’s central government in its war against the Islamist al Shabaab insurgency.
The al Qaeda-allied al Shabaab group has been fighting for more than a decade to topple Somalia’s government and establish its own rule based on its own strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
