Kenya: Military chopper gunned down

  1. Posted on Wednesday 27 May 2009 - 14:49
    CHANNY
    Image of CHANNY
    Alex Kiarie, AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya Photo: Not the real accident scene
    A Kenyan military helicopter crashed on Tuesday and injured three senior army officers as it patrolled the volatile Kenya-Somali border. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the plane was shot down by enemy fire from the Somali side. However, the Kenyan Department of Defense has denied it.
    Habyarimana_plane
    A loud bang suspected to be from a riffle was heard before the plane came down, according to an eye witness report. Two pilots and a senior military officer, identified only as Colonel Muteti, who is in charge of the Northern region, were injured when the Hughes-MD500 chopper, popularly known within the military circles as 'YY' came down. The incident took place at the Hulugho division in Ijara district at about 3pm. The American made plane is the only one used in the entire African continent.

    Those who were injured were airlifted to the Forces Memorial Hospital in Nairobi and are reported to be in a stable condition.

    Confirming the accident, a senior police officer from Ijara District situated in the Northern Kenya, Remas Warui, said the helicopter was patrolling the Kenya-Somali border with another identical plane. Both planes were based at the Kiyungi Millitary base in the tourist resort district of Lamu within the Coast Province. He said they were heading towards the Hulugho Base.

    The military plane crash comes after a 60-year-old controversial Somali cleric Abdikadir Abdi was kidnapped from a refugee camp in Ijara district, where he had sought refuge to escape attacks from the Somali militia group, Al Shabaab. The Islamic preacher is reported to have delivered sermons critical of the militia. The group controls most of the Southern regions of Somalia.

    The militia, which has links with the Al Qaeda terror organization, has made incursions into the Kenyan territory on several occasions, leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake. The organization has also been reported to lay claim to the Kenyan North-Eastern Province, which is inhabited by Kenyan ethnic Somalis.

    Meanwhile, the Kenya-Somali border is officially closed.

Latest News

  1. OPINION: Welcome to African Green Revolution24/05For the past century and a half, Africa has tried various agricultural approaches without much success.
  2. Egyptians vote in historic election23/05Egyptians began voting freely on Wednesday for the first time to pick their president in a wide open election that pits Islamists against men who serv…
  3. Africa Day 2012 - a moment for reflection and…22/0525th May is Africa Day. For many years it has been a celebration of African unity. It dates back to 1963 when the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) …
  4. South Africa's African agenda21/05The Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, Kgalema Mothlanthe paid a rare visit to Ghana in April at the invitation of John Dramani Mahama …
  5. Women struggle to rinse hunger, poverty stains21/05Just looking at her one clearly appreciates that she is old and frail therefore in need of support for food, clothing and shelter to live comfortably …
  6. Climate Climate change affects migratory birds…21/05Changes in the climate globally have affected the movement of both migratory and resident species of birds, Nature Uganda has said.
  7. Ghana: Foreign retailers cited for currency…18/05The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) is attributing the sharp depreciation of the Ghana cedi against major currencies to the illegal activiti…
  8. Kenya: Community radio brings succour to…18/05Korogocho, a slum in northeastern Nairobi with 100,000 inhabitants, had many of the ingredients for a political explosion similar to those that rocked…
  9. Veld fires 'flame' Zimbabwe's…16/05Over the years, Zimbabwe has experienced the scourge of veld fires destroying property worth thousands of dollars.
  10. Liberia commends ECOWAS for support14/05The induction training of pioneer Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Volunteers for Liberia kicked off in Monrovia, with the Deputy Mi…
  11. Vanishing Lake Chad puts 30m lives at risk14/05As you approach the Lake Chad basin from Maiduguri, in north-eastern Nigeria, the evidence of despair is telling.
  12. Heavy rains cause havoc in Kenya14/05Heavy Rainfall continued to wreak havoc across the country leading to the suspension of relief food in some parts of the country as most roads in Turk…
  13. Zimbabwe: Growth points lie dormant14/05The Zimbabwean government mooted the concept of growth points in the 1980s as a means of decongesting cities and towns.
  14. Sierra Leone improves in infant mortality11/05Sierra Leone has improved in infant mortality cases according to Save the Children- World Motherhood index 2012 report. The West Africa country descri…
  15. Zimbabwe: Resettled farmers fail to utilize…10/05Resettled farmers in Zimbabwe are failing to utilize land due to inadequate farming inputs and lack of resources.
News archive