Photo:wsj/Reuters. www.kismaayodaily.com – your gateway of Somali news around the world.
An injured crew member is strapped to a stretcher at the site of one copter’s crash-landing near Mount Kenya.

KAMPALA, Uganda—Rescue teams were searching Monday for at least 10 Ugandan air force officers after three of its helicopters went missing Sunday as they flew to support ground troops in war-torn Somalia, the Ugandan military said.

The three Russian-made attack Mi-24 helicopters that went off radar near Mount Kenya were part of a unit of four sent to reinforce ground troops targeting al Qaeda-affiliate al-Shabaab militants in Somalia. The helicopters were headed for the southern Somali port of Kismayo, the country’s second-largest city, and a stronghold and source of funding for the al-Shabaab, said Ugandan military spokesman Col. Felix Kulayigye.

One of the helicopters crash landed near Mount Kenya and has been found and taken to the Kenyan base of Garissa, about 100 kilometers, or 62 miles, from the Somali border, Col. Kulayigye said, adding that unconfirmed reports suggested the other two helicopters made a “hard landing” on a road near the Kenya-Somali border. The fourth, a military transport air craft, landed safely in Somalia’s port city of Mogadishu. The Uganda military has ruled out the possibility they were shot down.

The four helicopters left their Ugandan base in Soroti Sunday with at least 28 officers and a dozen crew members on board, all of whom were Ugandans.

At least 18 officers and crew have been rescued, while 10 officers remain unaccounted for, Col. Kulayigye said, thanking the Kenyan military for their help in the rescue.

The helicopters were en route to reinforce more than 5,000 Ugandan ground forces, part of a larger African Union force that has been fighting the al-Shabaab militants. Last week, the Ugandan government said it would deploy its air force—which includes attack and transport helicopters—for the first time to bolster its ground troops in Somalia.

The loss, if confirmed, would be a major setback for the Ugandan-led AU forces, or Amison, who have made inroads against the al-Shabaab in recent months in the lawless Horn of African nation.

The al-Shabaab carried out a twin attack in Kampala in July 2010 killing at least 89 people, including one American aid worker, and have since carried out similar attacks in Kenya, leading to the death of dozens of people. Kenya has more than 4,500 troops in Somalia as part of Amisom.

Somalia has been without an effective central government for at least two decades following the toppling of former President Muhammed Siad Barre, making the lawless country a haven for terrorists, pirates and illegal arms dealers.

Source: (WSJ).