Yemen military aircraft crashes in Sanaa, kills 9

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(Globalpost/GlobalPost)

A Yemeni military aircraft ploughed into a building in a residential neighbourhood of Sanaa on Tuesday, killing the pilot and at least nine civilians, medics and witnesses said.

Medics said the toll, which included two children and three women and left another 22 injured, was expected to rise

Several hours after the crash rescue teams were still sifting through the rubble for survivors, the AFP correspondent said.

A military source said the plane was a Russian-made Sukhoi SU-22 attack aircraft, but could not say what caused it to slam into the building in the Qadissiya area of homes and shops near Change Square, epicentre of the uprising that ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

"I saw the plane drop and we were afraid it would crash on Sanaa University, but the pilot crashed on nearby buildings," said Mohammed al-Sabri.

The aircraft hit one building on Rabat Avenue, then smashed into another before finally crashing on top of a third, witnesses said.

An AFP correspondent said the building was badly damaged and that several ambulances rushed to the scene as helicopters hovered overhead.

A loud explosion shook the area when the crash occurred, witnesses said. Thick black smoke billowed over the district, where several cars were ablaze.

Panicked residents took to the streets, many screaming.

"We heard a loud explosion and we thought it was a mortar shell that landed on the neighbourhood," one of the residents, Taha al-Inad, told AFP.

An air base is located near the Sanaa international airport, just 15 kilometres (nine miles) north of the capital.

In November, a Yemeni air force Antonov M26 crashed during a training mission in a northern district of Sanaa, killing all 10 on board.

Sanaa was gripped by violent clashes between rival military groups during the 2011 uprising to oust Saleh, who finally stepped down a year ago under a UN-backed power transition agreement brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council.

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http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130219/yemen-military-aircraft-crashes-sanaa-kills-9-0