POL.777
9th Jan 2003, 08:39
Reuters.com (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2014933)
Thu January 9, 2003 04:28 AM ET
ANKARA (Reuters) - Two Turkish fighter planes collided and crashed in the southeastern province of Malatya on Thursday, local media said.
State news agency Anatolian said both the planes in the crash were F4 fighters on a training flight.
A Transport Ministry spokeswoman told Reuters she was aware that a military plane or planes had crashed, but had few details. There was also no word on possible casualties.
The accident happened the day after a passenger airliner crashed in southeast Turkey killing 75 people.
The Turkish military has a heavy presence in the southeast of the country where it fought an armed Kurdish separatist movement at the cost of over 30,000 lives since 1984.
Southern Turkey also hosts an airbase from which U.S. and British airplanes patrol a no-fly zone over northern Iraq and the region is likely to be crucial to any U.S.-led war against Iraq in the coming months.
Thu January 9, 2003 04:28 AM ET
ANKARA (Reuters) - Two Turkish fighter planes collided and crashed in the southeastern province of Malatya on Thursday, local media said.
State news agency Anatolian said both the planes in the crash were F4 fighters on a training flight.
A Transport Ministry spokeswoman told Reuters she was aware that a military plane or planes had crashed, but had few details. There was also no word on possible casualties.
The accident happened the day after a passenger airliner crashed in southeast Turkey killing 75 people.
The Turkish military has a heavy presence in the southeast of the country where it fought an armed Kurdish separatist movement at the cost of over 30,000 lives since 1984.
Southern Turkey also hosts an airbase from which U.S. and British airplanes patrol a no-fly zone over northern Iraq and the region is likely to be crucial to any U.S.-led war against Iraq in the coming months.