Military helicopter crashes and catches fire at Mogadishu airport

Wednesday July 2, 2025

Mogadishu (HOL) — A military helicopter crashed and burst into flames at Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International Airport on Tuesday, according to two airport staff who witnessed the incident.

Preliminary reports indicate the aircraft belonged to the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), now renamed the African Union Stabilization and Support Mission (AUSSOM).

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“We heard the blast and saw smoke and flames over a helicopter. The smoke entirely covered the helicopter. We do not know if it was landing or taking off,” Farah Abdulle, one of the airport staff, told Reuters.

Neither the Somali government nor AUSSOM has officially commented on the incident or the cause of the crash.

The incident comes just weeks after another AUSSOM helicopter went down in the Hawadley district of the Middle Shabelle region. That aircraft had been conducting an evacuation mission after floodwaters forced Burundian peacekeepers to withdraw, leaving the district vulnerable to an Al-Shabaab takeover.

Details regarding casualties or damage from Tuesday’s crash in Mogadishu remain unclear.

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