Nigerian helicopter crash kills four policemen

LAGOS (AFP) - A police helicopter crashed and burst into flames in the central Nigerian city of Jos on Wednesday, killing four policemen on board, including a senior officer, authorities said.

"Four police officers, including a (deputy inspector general), were killed," police spokesman Yemi Ajayi told AFP.

Government officials, emergency services and residents said the helicopter came down in a residential area in the Rukuba district of the city.

It was not immediately clear if there were casualties on the ground, and the cause of the crash was not yet known.

The officers' mission was not clear as well, but a joint military and police task force is deployed in Jos to contain violence between Christian and Muslim ethnic groups that has rocked the city in recent years.

Ajayi said the victims included a policeman who was last month promoted to the rank of deputy inspector general, a position held by a number of officers just below the head of the national police force.

The identities of the other victims were yet to be made public.