Four people were killed Thursday when a U.S. military-contracted plane crashed in the southern Philippines, US and Philippines officials said.
Locals reported seeing smoke coming from the plane and hearing a blast before it crashed in a rice field in Maguindanao del Sur province.
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The bodies of the doomed plane’s four occupants were recovered from debris in Ampatuan town. The victims appeared to be foreign nationals but their identities were not immediately known.
U.S. forces have been in the country’s sought for several years helping with the training of Filipino Forces in their battle against Muslim militants.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command will issue a detailed statement about the crash when more information becomes available.
