Somali extremist al-Shabaab soldiers killed one passenger and held five others hostage after their United Nations helicopter made an emergency landing Wednesday in territory controlled by al-Qaeda-linked fighters, according to the regional internal security minister. .
The U.N. helicopter carrying soldiers and medical staff was on an evacuation mission and was forced to land in the Galgudud region of central Somalia after a mechanical failure, Mohamed Abdi Adan, the country's internal security minister, said by phone. Galmudug state to The Associated Press (AP) and Bloomberg
"Two of the seven passengers, one of whom was a Somali national, were able to escape with rifles, but the militants killed another person who tried to flee," Abdi Adan said. "The militants took the people left after the helicopter crash hostage."
The al-Shabaab group has waged an insurgency in the Horn of Africa nation since 2006 and maintains several strongholds in central and southern Somalia.
