Helicopter on African Union mission crashes in Somalia, killing 5 Ugandan soldiers
Mogadishu (Somalia) (AP): Five Ugandan soldiers were killed when a military helicopter serving the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia crashed Wednesday at an airport in the capital, Mogadishu, according to Ugandan authorities.
The Mi-24 helicopter was arriving from an airfield in the Lower Shabelle region with eight people on board at the time of the crash. It originally belonged to the Ugandan Air Force but was being operated by the African Union peacekeeping mission.
Uganda's military said in a statement that the helicopter was on “a routine combat escort mission," and the pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer survived the crash with serious injuries and burns.
Ahmed Moalim Hassan, director-general of the Somalia Civil Aviation Authority, told state media that investigations are underway.
Aviation officer Omar Farah, who was among the first to reach the crash site, told The Associated Press that he “saw the helicopter spinning and then it fell very fast.”
Abdirahim Ali, a nearby resident, said he saw "a huge explosion and smoke everywhere.”
Minor delays were reported at the Aden Adde airport, but flights and other operations have since resumed.
The African Union peacekeeping mission, known as AUSSOM, is helping Somali authorities to fight al-Shabab, a rebel group that opposes the presence of foreign troops in the Horn of Africa nation.
The mission includes troops from countries including Uganda and Kenya.
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
