NOUAKCHOTT A Mauritanian military transport plane has crashed in the east of the country killing 39 people, including 22 members of president's ceremonial army band, a gendarmerie spokesman said on Wednesday. Mauritanian Air Force sources said the Chinese-built Y7 crashed after take-off on Tuesday night from the town of Nema, President Maaouya Ould Sid'ahmed Taya's stronghold near the border with Mali. The cause of the accident was not clear.

The gendarmerie said that the dead included 32 soldiers and seven civilians. Two soldiers survived the crash. The plane was travelling to the West African nation's capital Nouakchott from Nema following a six-day tour of the region by Taya. Civilians, usually families of the military, also travel on such flights. (Reuter)