Mogadishu, 26 Feb. Three people died and eight others were injured on Saturday in south-eastern Somalia when a helicopter belonging to the African Union Transition Mission in that country (ATMIS) fell, which was carrying out training exercises. training with Somali soldiers, the mission reported today.
“Unfortunately, three of the eleven passengers on board died and eight injured officers were evacuated to Mogadishu for urgent medical treatment,” ATMIS said in a brief statement.
The accident happened in the town of Baledogle, which belongs to the Somali region of Lower Shabelle (southeast).
“Investigations are underway to determine the cause of the accident,” the statement added.
The head of ATMIS, Mohamed El-Amine Souef, offered his condolences to the relatives of the deceased and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.
The ATMIS replaced the previous mission of the Union Africana (UA) in Somalia, conocida como AMISON, el pasado abril con el objectivo de seguir apoyando a las autoridades somalies en su lucha contra el grupo terrorista Al Shabab y reconstruct las gubernamentales institutions en el Country.
Somalia has lived in a state of war and chaos since 1991 when, after the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, the country was left without an effective government and in the hands of Islamist militias and warlords.
Al Shabab, a group affiliated with the Al-Qaeda network since 2012, is one of them and often carries out terrorist attacks in Mogadishu and other parts of the country to overthrow the central government -supported by the international community- and establish by force an Islamic regime. Wahhabi state of cut (ultra-conservative). ECE
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