The Somali militant group al-Shabab says it has shot down a Kenyan military plane returning from a combat mission in Somalia. Kenya says the plane crashed due to technical problems.
The Kenyan military said the aircraft developed problems while returning from a mission in Jamaame, southern Somalia, and crashed in the general area of Kismayo.
A spokesman for al-Shabab's military operations, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, told Reuters news service the jihadi group shot down the plane with a missile.
VOA's Somali Service quotes witnesses in southern Somalia as saying the plane crashed in the village of Lafaha Ragga. They could not say what caused the plane to come down, and the fate of the pilots was not clear.
Earlier Thursday, an al-Shabab spokesman announced its gunmen have shot to death a former Somali lawmaker and injured a current member of parliament in a drive-by shooting in the Somalian capital, Mogadishu.
The spokesman said al-Shabab plans to target other Somali lawmakers in the future
Some information in this report was provided by Reuters and AFP.