SAN FRANCISCO, May 10, (THEWILL) – The Ethiopian government has claimed responsibility for shooting down a privately-owned Kenyan plane in Somalia earlier this week.
The plane, which had been carrying humanitarian and medical supplies to help the country fight the spread of coronavirus, was shot down on Monday by Ethiopian troops protecting a camp in the town of Bardale, southwestern Somalia, the Ethiopian army said in a statement to the African Union (AU).
The erroneous attack resulted in the deaths of all six people on board.
The Ethiopian soldiers believed the plane was on a “potential suicide mission”, and mistakenly fired shots because they had not been informed about the “unusual flight” and the aircraft was flying low, the statement said.
The Kenyan government has expressed shock over the incident earlier this week, saying the plane’s mission had been to aid Somalia in tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
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