A Kenyan military helicopter crashed Thursday near the country’s border with Somalia.
According to preliminary reports, eight people on board, including Kenya’s Chief of Defense Forces, Francis Ogolla, are believed to have died.
According to the Kenyan Department of Defense, the crash occurred in Lamu County in coastal Kenya, where Kenyan defense forces are operating to “deter al-Qaida-linked extremists from the al-Shahab group based across the border in Somalia.”
The helicopter was reportedly carrying nine people at the time it crashed.