Reports from two security sources have revealed that a United Nations helicopter seized by al Shabaab militants in central Somalia earlier this week was carrying at least three Ukrainians, as well as nationals from Egypt, Uganda, and Somalia. The aircraft, which had nine passengers on board, was conducting an air medical evacuation when a technical problem forced it to make an emergency landing near Hindhere village, which is controlled by the Islamist militant group.
Due to the sensitivity of the issue, the security sources requested anonymity. According to one source and another person familiar with the situation, four Ukrainians were onboard as crew members.
While Somalia’s government stated it was working to rescue hostages, military officers cautioned that such efforts would be challenging in an area under the control of the al Qaeda-affiliated group for more than a decade. An internal U.N. memo obtained by Reuters alleged that one passenger had been killed, six were taken hostage by the militants, and two individuals fled, with their whereabouts unknown.
The Ukrainian government has not issued any comments, and Ugandan military representatives claimed to have no information. The Egyptian government was not immediately reachable for comment.
In a separate incident, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) reported that a U.N. guard was killed in a mortar attack by suspected al Shabaab militants near the capital Mogadishu’s Aden Adde international airport. The attack occurred on Thursday night when multiple mortar rounds landed inside the airport’s vicinity, where the U.N. compound is situated.
Efforts to reach out to al Shabaab for comment were unsuccessful. The militants have been fighting an insurgency against the Somali government since 2006 in an effort to establish their own rule based on their interpretation of Islamic law.
(Reporting by Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu and Giulia Paravicini in Nairobi, additional reporting by Tom Balmforth in London, Writing by Bhargav Acharya, Editing by Aaron Ross and Hugh Lawson)