An Iranian army helicopter crashed in bad weather in a mountainous region near the border with northern Iraq today, killing six military personnel.
Five people were injured in the crash, which happened during manoeuvres involving Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards on Friday, the ISNA news agency reported. Two were in critical condition, the IRNA news agency said.
Mohammad Hadisar, governor of the northwestern city of Piranshahr, said the helicopter came down while transporting troops and equipment and blamed it on the weather and a "technical problem", ISNA said.
Another Iranian news agency, Mehr, said it crashed during a military operation against the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), an Iranian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which is fighting for Kurdish autonomy in southeastern Turkey.