A Ugandan military aircraft crashed on the morning of Tuesday, July 2, at Aden Adde International Airport, located in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.
The country’s civil aviation authority confirmed that the plane was carrying eight passengers and had taken off from Balidogle military base, in the Lower Shabelle region.
Sources from the crash site reported that the plane caught fire upon landing, but emergency responders quickly intervened and extinguished the blaze before major damage could occur.
Eyewitnesses said they heard a loud explosion followed by a thick black smoke cloud rising from the site.
The Director of Somalia’s Civil Aviation Authority, Ahmed Maalim, told the BBC that the incident took place in the military section of the airport and that an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the crash. No confirmed casualties or injuries have been reported yet.
Ugandan troops are stationed in Somalia under the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) and are supporting Somali government forces in their fight against the al-Shabab terrorist group, which has waged a violent insurgency for years.
