Reports continue to emerge of something crashing in Somalia

These reports keep coming out of Somalia but no evidence to back them up.

An unmanned aerial vehicle, suspected to belong to the United States, has crashed in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

The aircraft crashed into a house in the city centre on Friday, according to the Associated Press. VOA news was told that the house was near the Libyan Embassy located in Mogadishu’s southwestern Hodan district. The wreckage was subsequently taken away by African Union soldiers.

An al-Shabaab run radio station claimed that five American surveillance aircraft have crashed in southern Somalia over the last two weeks. Apparently two came down in Mogadishu, one in the insurgent stronghold of Kismayo and others around Merka. However, such claims are hard to verify.

It is not clear who was operating the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), but the aircraft was most likely operated by United States forces as the US has flown UAVs over Somalia for several years, fighting pirates as well as the al Qaeda linked al-Shabaab militia. Numerous al-Shabaab leaders have been killed or wounded in strikes by UAVs, which apparently belong to the US Special Operations Command, according to the Washington Post.

Transitional government forces, backed by the African Union, are battling the al-Shabaab insurgency movement for control of the country. Although al-Shabaab recently withdrew from Mogadishu, some fighters still remain in the city.

It is believed the UAVs operate out of the US/French base in nearby Djibouti, known as Camp Lemonnier.

The US also operates UAVs in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya and Yemen. Predator drones have been flying strike missions against Libyan targets since April and Predators have been patrolling Yemen’s skies, occasionally firing missiles at high-value targets (such as the attack on cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in May).

According to the New York Times, the US now has around 7 000 UAVs and has asked Congress for almost US$5 billion for UAVs next year.

The United States has also been supporting its allies in the Somali region. In June it allocated US$145 million worth of military equipment to North and East African nations in order to help combat terrorist threats in the region.

The biggest recipients were Burundi and Uganda, which were allocated around US$45 million worth of equipment, including four unmanned aerial vehicles. The Associated press reports that the equipment includes four AeroVironment RQ-11 Raven miniature unmanned aerial vehicles.

Burundi and Uganda are heavily involved in Somalia, with around 9000 peacekeepers in the troubled nation. The two countries in March pledged to send an additional 4000 troops to Somalia.