Unmanned Drone Falls on IDP Camp in Somalia

An Israeli long-range Heron drone which is being used in the Horn of Africa nation of Somalia. 17 people were killed in Israeli air attacks on November 24, 2011., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Friday, February 3rd, 2012
06:44 pm

SOMALIA: Unmanned drone fell down in Mogadishu

By Abdalle Ahmed

Mogadishu (RBC) Unmanned drone, which is thought to be American surveillance drones has fell down today on Friday in part of Somalia capital Mogadishu, residents told RBC Radio.

The unmanned drone knocked down at Badbado IDP camp which is on Dharkenley district, south of Mogadishu.

“It was this noon, we saw a white small aircraft flying over our camp and in minutes we saw it fell down here”, Ahmed Abdi a resident in Badbado IDP camp told RBC Radio.

No one was hurt at the crash.

Somalia government officials and the African Union forces [AMISOM] reached the camp who then took the crashed drone.

“After we realized that this was a drone we just called the government. They came and took it”, Nafisa Ali, health officer at Badbado camp also told RBC Radio.

There was no immediate comment from Somali government security and the AMISOM command. But local sources insist that the drone was belonged to United States.

It is the second drone crash in Mogadishu in three months time.

Last year Washington declared that it has set up new base for its surveillance drones in the neighboring Ethiopia.


Surveillance drone crashes in refugee camp in Somali capital, African Union soldiers remove weapon

By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, February 3, 6:43 AM

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Witnesses say a surveillance drone has crashed into a refugee camp in the Somali capital.

Drones have been used by the U.S. to attack or observe al-Qaida-linked militants in the Horn of Africa nation.

Refugees and soldiers in Mogadishu’s Badbado camp say they watched the drone crash Friday into a hut made of sticks, corrugated cans and plastic bags.

Sacdiyo Sheikh Madar, a refugee at the camp, says African Union peacekeepers came to remove it.

Police officer Ali Hussein says the drone was shaped like a small plane. A similar drone crashed into a house in Mogadishu last year.