A NIGERIAN fighter jet taking part in military operations against Islamic militants in Mali crashed in western Niger on Monday, killing its two crew.
Until the Monday incident, there had been no reports of casualties of Nigerian troops in the French-led military campaign in the francophone African nation.
A spokesman from the Nigerian Defense Headquaters, Chris Olukolade confirmed the incident on Monday, saying that the jet was one of four based in the Nigerien capital of Niamey.
The aircraft, an Alpha jet, was on a non-combat mission as at the time of the incident.
Spokesman for the Nigerian Air Force, Yusuf Anas, also confirmed that the plane was an Alpha jet stationed in Niger as part of a Nigerian squadron supporting the mission in Mali.
“An investigation is going on to find out what happened. They were on a normal routine flight about 60 km (37 miles) west of Niamey when something happened,” Anas said.
“We don’t know but it was inside Nigerien territory,” he said in response to inquiries about enemy fire being the cause of the crash.
A Niger security source said the jet crashed near Dargol in the Tillabery region which borders Mali.
“The plane was not shot at. It was not in enemy territory so for now we are looking at maybe a mechanical problem,” another security official from Niger, who asked not to be identified, said.