Al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia have attacked a United Nations helicopter that made an emergency landing in rebel-held territory, killing one passenger and abducting five others.
The minister of internal security of Galmudug state in central Somalia, Mohamed Abdi Aden Gaboobe, said the helicopter made the landing in Xindheere village on Wednesday after engine failure.
He said six foreigners and one Somali national were onboard and one person was shot dead while trying to escape. One other person was missing.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric confirmed that “there was an incident involving a UN-contracted helicopter that took place today in Galmudug”.
He said that for the safety of those onboard, he would not provide other details except to say that “response efforts are under way … we’re fully engaged on the issue and trying to resolve it”.
The nationalities of the passengers were not immediately available.
An aviation official said medical professionals and soldiers were onboard the helicopter, which had been headed to Wisil town for a medical evacuation.
Al-Shabaab has intensified attacks on Somali military bases in recent months after it lost control of some territory in rural areas to a military offensive that followed the Somali president’s call for “total war” on the fighters.
Al-Shabaab still controls parts of southern and central Somalia and continues to carry out attacks in the capital, Mogadishu, and other areas while extorting millions of dollars a year from residents and businesses in its quest to impose an Islamic state.
The widespread insecurity means the UN and other humanitarian entities travel around Somalia by air. The UN mission in the Horn of Africa nation offers humanitarian assistance in a country periodically hit by deadly drought and with one of the world’s least developed health systems.
The UN mission also supports a 19,000-strong multinational African Union peacekeeping force that has begun a phased withdrawal from the country, with the aim of handing over security responsibilities in the coming months to Somali forces, who have been described by some experts as not ready for the challenge.
Last month, Somalia’s government welcomed the UN security council’s vote to lift the arms embargo imposed on the country more than three decades ago, saying it would help in the modernisation of Somali forces.
Dujarric said the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, spoke to Somalia’s president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, on Wednesday morning about the agreement signed on 1 January between Ethiopia and the breakaway region of Somaliland to give landlocked Ethiopia access to part of its coast.
Somalia’s president has rejected the agreement, calling it a violation of international law.
“The secretary-general recalled that the security council has repeatedly affirmed the respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of Somalia,” Dujarric said, and he hopes “all parties will engage in peaceful and constructive dialogue, and to refrain from any actions that could further escalate the situation”.
