Cargo Plane downed in Somalia

Somalia is slowly returning to its earlier state of chaos. The provisional govt. really does not seem to have much support and without peacekeepers and Ethiopian troops it would no doubt retreat from Mogadishu again.

Rocket attack downs plane in Somalia, killing 11
Last Updated: Friday, March 23, 2007 | 5:28 PM ET
CBC News
A rocket attack shot down a cargo plane in the Somali capital of Mogadishu Friday, killing all 11 aboard, according to a report.

The plane, which had just delivered supplies for Ugandan peacekeepers, was hit in the wing during takeoff and crashed in flames.

"I saw the plane flying at low altitude, a missile hit one of the wings, and then the plane fell," a reporter for the country's Shabelle news service told Reuters.

The Itar-Tass news agency reported the 11-person crew was killed, though there has been no official confirmation.

Capt. Paddy Ankunda, spokesman for the Ugandan peacekeepers in Somalia, confirmed a crash. Ankunda was unsure of the nationalities of the crew or whether they had survived, but said, "We are afraid that they have gone."

The attack came at the end of a bloody week in war-torn Somalia, in which dozens of civilians were killed. Insurgent groups are striking daily against the government, their Ethiopian military allies and a contingent of 1,200 Ugandan soldiers in the vanguard of an African Union peacekeeping force.

The country has endured continuing violence since last year. In July 2006, the forces of the Islamic Courts Union [UIC], an alliance of Sharia courts, captured Mogadishu and ousted the warlords who have ruled the country since 1991. The Ethiopian military later intervened on behalf of the Somalian government, driving the UIC out of the capital, though the group continues fighting a guerilla campaign.

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