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Thai military helicopter crashes, 10 dead

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-06 17:23

BANGKOK - A Thai air force helicopter crashed on Wednesday in the country's troubled south, killing all 10 aboard, an army spokesman said.

It was the second military helicopter to go down in the region in less than two months.

The Bell UH-1H hit a jungle-clad hill in the southern province of Yala, Colonel Acra Tiproch said. Four senior army and air force officers were among the dead.

"We don't know what caused it to crash yet. But I don't think it was the work of the militants since Betong is relatively free of attacks," Acra told Reuters by telephone. Betong is a hilly town popular with Malaysian tourists just over the border.

In June, the same model of the Vietnam War-era helicopter suffered engine trouble and crashed in Yala, killing all 10 on board.

It was ferrying the forensic team to the site of a gun battle between Muslim rebels and security forces earlier on the day in Yala, one of four southernmost provinces where 3,000 people have been killed since 2004.