According to a statement issued by the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia on Sunday, three people were killed and eight others injured when a helicopter operated by the mission crashed on Saturday in the country’s Lower Shabelle region.
According to the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), the helicopter, which was carrying eleven passengers, including Somali military personnel, was participating in training drills for casualty evacuation when it crashed.
“Regrettably, three of the eleven passengers on board lost their lives. Eight injured officers have been evacuated to Mogadishu for urgent medical attention,” ATMIS stated in a statement.
It did not provide any information on the casualties, including their nationality, but stated that investigations into the cause of the crash had begun.
ATMIS is assisting Somalia’s central government in its fight against the insurgency.
For more than a decade, the al Qaeda-allied al Shabaab group has been fighting to destabilise Somalia’s government and establish its own rule based on its own strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
