10 killed in Venezuelan military chopper crash

CARACAS - All 10 soldiers on board a Venezuelan National Guard helicopter were killed when the chopper crashed while taking off on an anti-drug operation, military officials said.

The helicopter was searching for a group of suspected drug traffickers when it went down Friday afternoon in southwestern Apure state near the Colombia border, National Guard senior official Gen. Luis Alfredo Motta Dominguez said Saturday.

Dominguez said there were three officers and seven soldiers.