A missile took down a Russian-made plane in Mogadishu, Somalia on Friday. Eleven Belarus nationals were killed. "The plane was shot down," Belarussian Transport Ministry spokeswoman Ksenia Perestoronina told reporters on Saturday. Witnesses reported seeing the missile coming from a crowded market. From The New York Times:

“Someone fired the missile from right where I was walking,” said Mohammed Abdi Ali, a pharmacist who was in the livestock market at the time of the attack. “Then the plane burst into flames.”

The Somali Minister of Interior, Mohamed Mahamud Guled, denies that the plane was shot down. He says that the plane went down in an accident.

Four months ago, the London Daily Telegraph reported that Iran had given Islamic fighters in Somalia 250 anti-aircraft missiles. The downing of this plane is a grim reminder of how dangerous these missiles are in the hands of terrorists.

Also on Friday, USA Today reported that Homeland Security and the military will be testing a new means of countering the portable missile threat in America; military drones will be flying over America's busiest airports this summer. Read "Drones Could Defend Airports" for details.

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