NAIROBI, January 10. /TASS/. Militants of the al-Shabab radical group have seized the crew of a UN helicopter after it made an emergency landing, The Washington Post reported, citing sources in Mogadishu.

According to the sources, al-Shabab militants set the helicopter on fire and seized most of its crew members after the rotorcraft was forced to land on its way to Wisil in the central Galguduud region. The United Nations has not yet commented on the incident.

The United Nations provides the 17,500-strong African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia with logistical and medical support. However, according to a peacekeeping force official, there were no peacekeepers onboard the helicopter. There were no Americans among those seized.

Al-Shabab controls part of Somalia’s territory but government forces, supported by African Union peacekeepers, have managed to take back most of the territories from al-Shabab in recent years.