NAIROBI (AFP) - Kenyan Interior Minister George Saitoti was killed with five others after a police helicopter crashed Sunday near Nairobi, sources said.

"We have lost a cabinet minister, his assistant and their bodyguards and the pilots," the source said, without specifying which minister was killed.

An official source confirmed Saitoti was the minister killed.

Police refused comment and said government officials were en route to the scene of the crash in the Ngong hills on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital.

The reason for the crash was not immediately clear.

A source earlier said somes bodies were charred beyond recognition.