American UAS Shot Down by Rebels in Somalia

An American UAS has crashed in Somalia, a US official said Tuesday, after al-Shabaab militants claimed to have recovered the wreckage.

“I can confirm an RPA (remotely piloted aircraft) crashed in a remote area of the Somali coastline south of Mogadishu,” said the defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The incident is under investigation.”

Officials declined to comment on what type of unmanned aircraft had crashed, whether it was armed and why it had gone down.

Earlier in the day, the Islamic militant group al-Shabaab posted on Twitter what it claimed were photos of a downed American unmanned reconnaissance aircraft.

In the photos, you can clearly see camera components and one broken part marked with the word “Schiebel,” a corporation that develops unmanned aircraft.Initial media reports thought the aircraft was American, but Schiebel, an Austrian company that sells technology around the world, doesn’t list the U.S. as one of its buyers.

A governor for that region of Somalia told Reuters that al-Shabaab militants had shot at the aircraft for hours before it crashed.

Al-Shabaab said that it crashed near the southern Somali village of Bulo Marer in the Lower Shabelle region, an area held by the extremists.

Sources: Daily Nation; San Francisco Chronicle