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A plane that transported African Union (AU) peacekeepers to Somalia’s capital Mogadishu earlier this week was on fire on Friday, March 9, an airport security official said. REUTERS/Sahal Abdule (SOMALIA)

MOGADISHU (AFP) – Islamist militants said on Friday they had fired missiles at a plane carrying Ugandan peacekeepers which caught fire on landing at Mogadishu airport.

“Today, March 9, 2007, we destroyed a military plane at Mogadishu airport,” said the statement on the Qaadisiya.com website, linked to an Islamist movement.

“The plane carrying the last invading troops was hit by two missiles at the centre of the aircraft,” it added.

The AU peacekeeping force began deploying in Somalia on Tuesday, amid continuing insurgent attacks. Around 1,000 Ugandan soldiers have already arrived in the Somali capital.

Islamists, driven out of Mogadishu by the interim government and Ethiopian forces in December, have vowed to fight foreign forces and are thought to be behind almost daily attacks in the city.

The plane, which was carrying six African Union peacekeepers from Uganda and their equipment, caught fire as it landed on the runway of Mogadishu International Airport Friday morning, but there were no casualties, officials said.

Mogadishu airport was briefly closed after the fire, which officials claimed was due to a technical fault.

“After a mechanical default on one of the cargo planes that was serving the African Union, the airport is now open,” the official said, asking not to be named.

“The plane … blocked the runway. We diverted all the planes coming to Mogadishu to nearby airports,” the official said.

A senior army official earlier brushed off reports from local residents that the plane was hit by a surface-to-air missile.

“The claims are pure lies and the defect was technical,” the unnamed official said.

Witnesses of the fire said the plane appeared to have suffered severe damage.

“I heard a small explosion when the plane landed and then I saw the plane burning at the back and in its wings,” said businessman Mohamed Weli.

Ugandan army spokesman Paddy Ankunda said no one was injured in the incident.

On Tuesday, gunmen fired several shells into Mogadishu airport just hours after the arrival of the first Ugandan forces.

Meanwhile officials said Ethiopian troops have withdrawn from the southern Somali town of Kismayo, the last bastion of a now-vanquished Islamist movement, and handed authority to local leaders.

Deputy Defence Minister Salad Ali Jelle said the pull-out indicated that the Ethiopians, who helped the interim government topple the Islamists from Somalia’s southern and central regions in January, had no intention of staying in the country.

“The Ethiopian troops have handed over the responsibility to the Somalis. The local authorities will efficiently run Kismayo,” Jelle told AFP.

“This shows that the Ethiopian troops are to help here in Somalia but not to stay. Any region which is peaceful will be run by its people,” he added.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi deployed his forces into neighbouring Somalia late last year, accusing the then-ruling Islamist movement of threatening his country’s national security.

Since Somali-Ethiopian forces drove the Islamists from Mogadishu in late December, violent incidents have multiplied, with residual Islamist militia launching deadly attacks against government and Ethiopian forces.

Meanwhile Eritrea on Friday warned Uganda to pull its peacekeeping forces out of Somalia immediately, warning of “dire consequences” if the recently-dispatched African Union troops remain.

“We believe that the government of Uganda must rectify its error and pull out from Somalia, otherwise the situation will become increasingly dangerous,” Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu said on Friday.

“It will not only worsen, but will become a war between the Somali people and external forces. That will have dire consequences for the whole region.”