KAMPALA/MOGADISHU, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Five people were killed and six others injured when a Ugandan military helicopter crashed Wednesday in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, according to a statement issued by the Ugandan military.

The statement said the helicopter was carrying eight personnel, including six crew members. The pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer survived but sustained serious injuries and severe burns. The other passengers were killed, while three civilians on the ground were also injured.

The Mi-24 helicopter went down about 200 meters east of the North Ramp at Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu, triggering a detonation of onboard munitions and causing damage to nearby structures, the statement added.

All the injured, both crew members and civilians, were evacuated to a nearby African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) hospital for treatment.

A joint emergency response team comprising firefighters from Mogadishu airport and the United Nations, along with ATMIS explosive ordnance disposal personnel responded to the scene and is supporting rescue operations.

According to Ugandan military spokesperson Felix Kulayigye, a team will soon be dispatched to Mogadishu to investigate the cause of the crash. The helicopter was returning from a routine escort mission at the time of the incident.

The Ugandan military has ruled out the possibility of an external attack, with Kulayigye saying that Mogadishu has largely been cleared of the al-Shabab militant group, making it unlikely that the Mi-24 helicopter was shot down.

"Being an attack helicopter, it was loaded with rockets, so the rockets caused the fire. If it was an external action, we would not be talking about investigations because we would have known the cause," he said.

"Of course it (the crash) does affect the proficiency of escort duties for those convoys that carry logistics. When one helicopter is out of action, you certainly feel the pinch. But it will not stop the work that is being done," Kulayigye added.

The African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) confirmed the accident, saying that the helicopter, operated by the Uganda Peoples' Defense Forces contingent, crash-landed at around 7:30 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) after departing from Baledogle Airfield, about 90 kilometers northwest of the Somali capital.

"Three of the eight passengers on board were immediately rescued and rushed to the AUSSOM Level II hospital in Mogadishu for medical attention," AUSSOM said in a statement issued in Mogadishu.

Ahmed Macallin Hassan, director general of the Somali Civil Aviation Authority, said flight operations at the airport were continuing as normal, although a section of the runway has been temporarily closed due to debris from the crash.

Last September, the Ugandan military lost a transport helicopter while flying from Mogadishu to Baledogle Airfield. All four peacekeepers on board survived that incident, according to the military.

Uganda has been one of the key troop-contributing countries to the African Union peacekeeping mission in the Horn of Africa since 2007. ■