Mogadishu - Three people died Wednesday after a small aircraft carrying khat, a narcotic leaf, crashed as it tried to land at an airport near the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Witnesses told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the plane hit a telecommunications tower in rain and heavy mist as it tried to land at Number 50 airport, 50 kilometres south of Mogadishu.

The airport is commonly used by planes that bring khat from neighbouring Kenya to Somalia every morning. (dpa)