MOGADISHU, Somalia – Residents and rebels in southwestern Somalia say a suspected U.S. drone carrying six missiles crashed Monday in a rebel-held village in the Gedo region.
Al-Shabab, Somalia's Islamic extremist insurgents, claimed on their radio station that their fighters have seized the crashed drone with the missiles. This has not been independently verified.
U.S. drones have killed several al-Shabab leaders in airstrikes in Somalia over the past year.
The U.S. government hasn't yet commented on the reported drone crash.
In a separate development, Somali police say a bomb killed a former defense minister in Mogadishu Monday.
Capt. Mohamed Hussein said a bomb hidden in a vehicle carrying Muhyadin Mohamed Haji was detonated in the capital, killing him and wounding another person. Haji was the defense minister in Somalia's transitional government in 2008.
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