Thai air force helicopter crash kills six in troubled south

Bangkok, Aug 6 (UNI) A Thai Air Force helicopter crashed this morning in the country's southern border province of Yala killing all six passengers.

The crash in Yala's Betong district is the second in two months in the region where an over four-year-old separatist insurgency has claimed more than 3,000 lives.

Defence officials are still ascertaining the cause of the crash.

The victims were air force personnel.

Authorities blamed engine malfunction for the air force helicopter crash also in Yala in June this year in which 10 of the 13 people on board died.

Thailand maintains a heavy military presence in its three Muslim-majority provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani bordering Malaysia where suspected Islamic militants have spread a reign of terror.

UNI XC RJ DS1355