'Unmanned spy plane' crashes in Somalia

BAIDOA, Somalia Dec 25 - An unmanned drone plane crashed in southern Somalia Thursday, with locals speculating that the device belongs to the U.S. military, The unmanned drone crashed in Baidoa, a southwestern town that serves as the Horn of Africa country' s seat of parliament. Ethiopian troops rushed to the crash site, which is locatedsomewhere between the Baidoa airstrip and the ADC Hall, home to the Somali parliament, according to local reports. "We heard two loud explosions, and then we heard [reports that] a plane crashed," said a witness who did not want to be identified. The witness described the aerial device as "too small to cause major damage," while confirming other witness reports that the drone had been flying overhead for at least 24 hours. Earlier in 2008, an unmanned drone plane crashed near Marka, the provincial capital of Lower Shabelle region. In both cases, locals said the drones were U.S. 'spy planes' on aerial surveillance missions. The U.S. military has conducted air strikes inside Somalia at least three times since December 2006, when Ethiopian troops invaded the country with U.S. support. In May, the reputed leader of Al Shabaab insurgents was killed in a U.S. air strike, where more than 20 other people died.