A German army helicopter with two German nationals on board has crashed in northern Mali, the spokesman of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) said Wednesday.
The Tiger attack helicopter crashed at about 1230 GMT near the town of Tabankort in the Gao region, Ahmad Makaila told dpa.
The reason for the crash or the condition of the two pilots remained unknown on Wednesday evening, according to Makaila.
The helicopter was monitoring clashes on the ground when it crashed, a spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, without providing further details.
The crash site needed to be secured before the UN can confirm any casualties, Farhan Haq told reporters in New York.
MINUSMA has dispatched a medical team to the area, Haq said.
A German army spokesman told dpa it regarded the crash as a "serious incident in a country of deployment." The army could not yet provide details of the incident, as it was still in the process of gathering intelligence, the spokesman added.
Following a 2012 military coup in the West African country, a jihadist and separatist insurgency took control of Mali's north.
The conflict prompted French military intervention in January 2013 and the deployment of a 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping operation several months later.
Around 875 German troops are currently deployed as part of the operation.
Despite the signing of several peace agreements between the government and various Islamist groups, militants continue to stage regular attacks in Mali's north.
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