Residents reported seeing a burning plane crash in northern Mogadishu on Friday. One witness said it was a Ugandan military plane and that it was shot down.
Details were unclear and officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
”We saw a burning plane coming down,” said Muse Sheik Osman, who lives in the north of the capital. Osman said he heard the sound of an anti-aircraft missile being fired shortly before the crash.
Another witness who identified himself only as Mohamed said a Ugandan military aircraft was shot down, and that police were arresting people around the airport, searching for suspects.
A third witness, Abdirahman Mohamed, who also lives in the city’s north, also said he saw a burning plane crash. ”I’m not sure if it was shot down,” he said.
Ugandan troops are in Somalia as peacekeepers.
Clashes broke out in Mogadishu for the third day on Friday between gunmen and Ethiopian troops helping the government fight an insurgency many fear could plunge Somalia back into civil war.
Witnesses heard shelling and cannon fire near a former defence headquarters, the scene of repeated fighting between insurgents and the government and its Ethiopian allies since Wednesday. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
At least 16 people have been killed and hundreds more wounded this week in the bloodiest clashes since the government and Ethiopian troops seized the coastal city from rival Islamists three months ago. — Reuters, Sapa-AP