A Pakistani Army helicopter crashed on Wednesday in the country's northwest tribal areas, killing at least eight people aboard including a senior general, local reports said.
Among the dead was Major General Javed Sultan, a senior commander based in Kohat, six other officers and one enlisted man, DawnNews TV reported.
Major General Athar Abbas, the chief Army spokesman, told Dawn News that the chopper went down in the South Waziristan district of the North-West Frontier Province due to a technical fault.
Around 100,000 Pakistani Army soldiers and paramilitary troops have been deployed to South Waziristan and other tribal districts to battle armed Islamic militants, including the Taliban and Al Qaeda, who US intelligence officials say have regrouped and are training recruits to carry out attacks in America.