Republished November 12, 2017 - 4:54 AM
Original Publication Date November 12, 2017 - 12:01 AM
BAGHDAD - Iraq's Defence Ministry says a military helicopter has crashed during a training exercise, killing all three crew members on board.
The statement says the Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter crashed Sunday morning in the central Wasit province. The cause of the accident was not immediately known. The ministry had initially reported that seven crew members died.
The province is located about 100 miles (160 kilometres) southeast of Baghdad, far from the front lines of the war with the Islamic State group. U.S.-backed Iraqi forces have driven the extremists from nearly all the territory they once controlled, with some fighting still ongoing near the western border with Syria.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017