Five members of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) were killed on Monday when a military helicopter belonging to the air force crashed upon landing at El Fasher airport in North Darfur State, announced an SAF spokesman.

"Five members of the armed forces were killed when a military helicopter (Mi 17) crashed while it was trying to land at El Fasher airport in North Darfur," SAF spokesman Al-Sawarmy Khalid Saad told reporters here today.

He further said that the helicopter was on a normal internal flight for the military personnel, explaining that primary investigations showed that the helicopter crashed due to a technical fault in one of its engines.

"Three officers were among the victims, including a major and two soldiers," added the spokesman.

Last week the SAF announced that a training helicopter (Mi 24), belonging to the Sudanese Air Force, burned while taking off from a military airport in Khartoum, resulting in death of a crew member.