Associated Press reports on the arrival of only the second aircraft at Mogadishu since the civil war broke out, allegedly with a cargo of armaments for the new rulers, the Islamic Courts Union, to fight the Ethiopians. There’s a photo, too…
The aircraft is a no-title Ilyushin 76 which according to AP was registered in Kazakhstan. However, the registration is not visible and is not mentioned in the story. Checking all the Il-76s listed as active with Kazakh operators, I have eliminated most of them from my inquiries as they don’t match the one in the photo. However, the closest seem to be either GST Aero, UN-76497 with Air Bas, or one owned by the Kazakh government.
Can you help? Specifically, has anyone seen a UN- prefix Il-76 with that curious flag or panel on the starboard side of the fin?