ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s Defense Ministry says a military helicopter has crashed in eastern Turkey, killing 11 soldiers on board and injuring two others. News reports said the victims included an army corps commander. The helicopter crashed Thursday in the town of Tatvan, in the predominantly Kurdish-populated Bitlis province. The ministry described the crash as an accident, but it wasn’t immediately known what caused it. The Cougar type helicopter was on its way to Tatvan from the nearby province of Bingol when it disappeared from radar at 2:25 pm (1125 GMT). The location is in an area where the troops have been combating militants of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
