Pakistan Air Force fighter jet crashes

Islamabad, Apr 5 (UNI) A Chinese-origin F-7 fighter aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) crashed today while on a routine operational training mission near Islamabad.

''The aircraft crash near Pindigheb town, 95 kilometers southwest of Islamabad, was apparently due to technical malfunction with the pilot sustaining fatal injuries,'' a PAF spokesman said here today.

However, he said no loss of civilian life or property has been reported on ground.

The PAF is currently flying Chinese-origin F-7s, F-7PG and A-5 fighter planes, which Beijing supplied to the Air Force in last two decades. Pakistan will also begin inducting Chinese medium tech JF-17 (Thunder) aircraft from March 2007, which it has already manufactured jointly with China.

''A board of inquiry has been set up to determine cause of the accident,'' the spokesman added.

UNI XC ARB HT1512