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Ugandan military helicopter crashes: pilot killed, four injured

Other News Materials 11 March 2008 23:14 (UTC +04:00)

( dpa )- A Ugandan military helicopter pilot was killed and four soldiers injured when their aircraft crashed in the north-east of the country during a mission to flush out tribal cattle rustlers on Tuesday, according to military sources.

The five were pursuing Karamojong tribesmen over several villages in the Abin district of the remote Karamoja region when the helicopter went down, the sources said.

Army spokesman Major Paddy Ankunda told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that an investigation has been launched to establish the cause of the crash, but gave no further details.

Kampala-based Central Broadcasting Service( CBS) radio, however, quoted the area's military spokesman Lieutenant Deo Akiiki as saying the pilot had tried but failed to propel the helicopter upwards before it crash-landed.

Uganda's military has since since the start of this decade been carrying out air and ground operations to deter the warrior-like Karamojong from carrying out bloody raids for cattle among themselves and neighbouring tribes.

Hundreds of lives have been lost in the incursions and the army is at the moment involved in a forceful disarmament of the warriors.

Government has said over 25,000 rifles are still illegally held by Karamojong militias after over 15,000 had been recovered from them since the disarmament began.

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