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NAIROBI — The al-Qaeda-linked Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab has seized the crew of a U.N. helicopter that made an emergency landing Wednesday, said two people based in Mogadishu who work with international organizations.
Al-Shabab set the helicopter on fire and seized most of the crew members after the aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing on its way to the town of Wisil in the central Galguduud region, a Western official told The Washington Post.
A Mogadishu-based official said four Europeans and five Africans were onboard. One crew member was reportedly killed, two were unaccounted for and may have escaped, and the rest were taken captive, he said. All four officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
A spokeswoman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia said a statement would be issued shortly. An internal U.N. memo said the helicopter “was struck by an object on the main rotor blade, and the flight landed safely with precaution.” It didn’t say what the object was.
The United Nations provides logistical and medical support to the 17,500-strong African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia. An official with the force who also spoke on the condition of anonymity said no peacekeeping troops were on the helicopter.
U.S. troops are back in Somalia and scrambling to help its special forces
Al-Shabab has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but it is the main hostile force in the area.
The insurgent group has control over swaths of Somalia, though government forces, supported by the A.U. peacekeeping force and clan militias, have clawed back territory from Al-Shabab in recent years.
Galguduud has been a key battleground, where increasingly strong clan militias opposed to al-Shabab’s harsh interpretation of Islamic law have repeatedly clashed with the insurgency.
Hundreds of U.S. troops are also present in the Horn of Africa nation, where they train the elite Somali special forces and carry out airstrikes and missions. A Western diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity said no American citizens were onboard the helicopter Wednesday.
Somalia has been torn apart by civil war since 1991, when clan-based warlords overthrew dictator Mohammed Siad Barre, then turned on each other.
The capture of the helicopter and its crew is likely to evoke memories of the capture of a U.S. military crew when their Blackhawk helicopter was shot down over Mogadishu, the capital, in 1993.
Al-Shabab has frequently seized foreign hostages, including medical staff, and kept them in captivity for years. In 2018, they kidnapped a German nurse working with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Mogadishu. She has never been recovered.