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    December 13, 2011

US Drone Crashes in Seychelles

   VOA News
   Fully armed MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle taxis down the runway
   (file photo)
   Photo: AP
   Fully armed MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle taxis down the runway
   (file photo)

   A U.S. drone aircraft has crashed at an airport in the Seychelles.
   The U.S. Embassy in nearby Mauritius says the remote-controlled MQ-9
   aircraft crashed Tuesday while trying to land at the Seychelles
   International airport on the island of Mahe.
   An embassy statement says no one was injured.
   The embassy did not comment on the plane's mission and said the cause
   of the crash was unknown.
   The U.S. military has operated a small fleet of drones out of the
   Seychelles since 2009 to monitor Somali militant group al-Shabab and
   other groups liked to al-Qaida.
   Last week, Iran announced that it downed a U.S. drone in the eastern
   part of the country near the border with Afghanistan.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.

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