Nairobi - Somali gunmen blasted a Kenyan-registered light aircraft with rocket fire in the southern Somali port town of Kismayo on Sunday, but nobody was hurt, witnesses said.
The gunmen directed small arms fire at the plane, which was on the ground in Kismayo's airstrip, before firing a rocket-propelled grenade, which destroyed the aircraft, according to a witness contacted by telephone from Nairobi.
The pilot jumped out of the plane when some of the warning shots shattered windscreen.
The gunmen are said to have quarrelled over proceeds from khat, a mild leafy narcotic chewed by many Somalis.
Most khat chewed in Somalia is flown in daily from neighbouring Kenya in small aircrafts.
The destroyed plane, registration numba d-A er 5Y RAW belonged to a Kenyan company.
Kismayo, situated 500km south-west of Mogadishu, is controlled by the Somali National Front faction of the Marehan clan.
All flights from Nairobi to Kismayo were cancelled following the shooting. - Sapa-AFP