Somalia: a UN helicopter in the hands of Al-shabab terrorists

Terrorists from the Al-Shabab group seized a UN helicopter, after the UN machine landed, in an area controlled by this terrorist group in central Somalia.

A helicopter belonging to the UN mission in Somalia which took off from the central town of Beledwayne towards Wisil in Galmudug state made an emergency landing near Hindhere in Galgadud region, due to a technical problem.

As the landing zone was controlled by terrorists from the Al-Shabbab group, they managed to get their hands on the device. Official sources, cited by Anadolu, said the helicopter had nine passengers on board, including aid workers, military personnel, contractors and foreigners.

“Six of them were taken hostage by Al-Shabab terrorists, while two others reportedly managed to escape“, reports Anadolu, citing security officials on condition of anonymity.

Establish Sharia law

Harakat al-Chabab al-Mujahidin, is a Somali Islamist terrorist group with Salafist-jihadist ideology created in 2006 during the Ethiopian invasion. The group comes from the hardest faction of the Union of Islamic Courts and aims to establish sharia law in the region.

The organization is placed on the official list of terrorist organizations of the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It is suspected of maintaining strong links with the central leadership of Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and of harboring foreign jihadists, including some from Europe and the United States.

In 2009, the group declared war against the government of the new Somali president Sharif Ahmed, from the more moderate trend of the Islamic Courts. After its initial success, the group controlled part of the country in 2008 before being forced to retreat in 2011 in the face of offensives by the Somali army supported by the African Union.

At the end of 2008, Shebab controlled most of southern Somalia. From 2011, they suffered a series of setbacks in the face of offensives by Somali government forces, the African Union Mission in Somalia and the Kenyan army. They had to abandon Mogadishu in August 2011 then the main cities they controlled in 2012. In October 2014, they also left Brava, the last major port.

In addition to African national armies and African Union forces, the United States armed forces regularly carry out strikes against this movement.