Nigeria’s Defence authorities have confirmed that a helicopter belonging to the Nigerian Air Force crashed today South of Bama, Borno state.

A statement by the Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, said the Mi-35 helicopter was on a training mission, and crashed South of Bama, in Borno State, “due to technical fault.”

He did not say if there were any casualties or survivors, but stressed that it has been established that the crash was not attributable to enemy action.