Eighteen dead in Chechnya helicopter crash

Eighteen people were killed as Russian military helicopter crashed in Chechnya. There is the probability that the craft was shot down, an emergency official said.

The Mi-8 helicopter went down while flying to southern Chechnya as part of an operation against militants, an official at the regional branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give his name to the media. He said preliminary indications were that the helicopter was shot down.