MOGADISHU (Reuters) – A suspected U.S. reconnaissance drone crashed on Tuesday in southern Somalia, where African forces are fighting Islamist al Shabaab insurgents, the rebels and the provincial governor said.
Lower Shabelle region governor Abdikadir Mohamed Nur said that al Shabaab militants had shot at the aircraft over the town of Bulamareer for several hours before it crashed.
“Finally they hit it and the drone crashed,” Nur told Reuters.
The insurgents confirmed that a drone had crashed but did not say if they had downed it.
“A U.S. drone has just crashed near one of the towns under the administration of the Mujahideen in the Lower Shabelle region,” al Shabaab said on a social media account.
Although the United States does not report its activities in Somalia, drones have been used in recent years to kill Somali and foreign al Shabaab fighters.
Western nations are worried that Somalia will sink back into chaos and provide a launchpad for Islamist militancy despite a fragile recovery after two decades of war.
Last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon was seeking to send drones to Kenya as part of a $40 million-plus military aid package to help four African countries fighting al Qaeda and al Shabaab militants
Bulamareer residents said al Shabaab fighters had kept them away from the crash site.
“Al Shabaab fighters surrounded the scene. We are not allowed to go near it,” resident Aden Farah told Reuters.
Al Shabaab, which is affiliated with al Qaeda, said in January 2011 that a missile launched from a drone had killed Bilal el Berjawi, a Lebanese al Shabaab fighter who held a British passport.
Another missile killed four foreign militants south of the Somali capital Mogadishu in February 2012.
Al Shabaab were driven out of Mogadishu in late 2011 and are struggling to hold on to territory elsewhere in the face of attacks by Kenyan, Ethiopian and African Union forces trying to prevent Islamist militancy spreading out from Somalia.
Source:Reuters
Where does the challenging powers of the new SFG begins against all the roadmap
Signatories and Alshabab conflicting chaos in particular and the unilateral multilateral
free will access meddling of the IC and UNs on all matters of the failed Somalia without
a strong Govts since 1991???
As chaos of the past oppresses the present continues to haunt on the Somalia Soil,
so hapless and hopelessness doom continues to loom across the imporvished Somalia.
Cheers.
unmanned Drones are pretty dangerous lethal weapons killing indiscrimentally not only
terrorists but often too many innocent poeple of all categories.
The drones are some kind of advanced WMD???
Cheers.
The US Senators and Congress and the UNs should examine the use of unmanned drones
against the defenseless innocent imporvished Nations???
Cheers.
Barry (Barack) Hussein Obama wants to prove to his white benefactors that he is more determined, more driven, more possessed than his predecessors in fighting Al-Qaeda even at the cost of murdering, yes, murdering thousands of innocent lives. He is an empty suit with no real clout and a token who has elevated Uncle Tom(ism) to new heights.
Butthose drones fly from djabouti
It makes more sense to deploy them from Kenya or Ethiopia!
If the target is in the Juba valley.
Which they also have not sure about Kenya but 110% that they do in Ethiopia.
those drones fly from djabouti you isse warabe scumbag
We are hunting you down ya yahuudi. No where to hide douchebag.
Another drone has crashed today in Somalia this time in Puntland near Bosaso. It's raining drones.