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KAMPALA, Sept 17 (AFP) - Uganda has acknowledged that its security forces last week shot at a passenger plane which was travelling from Kigali in Rwanda to Goma in Zaire, the official New Vision newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Quoting highly-placed sources, the paper said that the Fokker 27 aircraft was hit while overflying Uganda's southwestern town of Kabale on the border with Rwanda.
Residents of Kabale town told AFP by telephone on Tuesday that they had heard a loud explosion followed by a cloud of smoke after the plane was hit at 1100 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Tuesday last week.
However, the plane managed to avoid more fire from the Ugandan side of the border and headed for Goma, where it crash-landed.
Earlier Tuesday, the director-general of the Zairean company owning the plane, Bemba Saolona, speaking to journalists in the Rwandan capital, accused the Ugandan army of responsibility for the incident.
Saolona said one of the 13 passengers on board was seriously injured by the shooting and he appealed to the Zairean government to ensure that the country responsible paid compensation.
The shooting of the plane comes three weeks after four Ugandan soldiers were killed by shells fired from Rwanda.
more AFP AFP SEQN-0279
