Yemen fighter plane crashes into homes in Sanaa

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The plane was on a training flight when it crashed, Yemeni officials said

A fighter plane has crashed in a residential area of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, killing at least nine people, reports say.

The aircraft came down near Change Square, scene of anti-government protests under the former regime.

The plane was on a training flight when it crashed, Yemeni officials said.

Two homes were hit, the interior ministry said, with reports of people trapped under rubble. TV pictures showed cars on fire at the scene.

State news agency Saba said three women and two children were among those killed when the plane came down in al-Qadissiya neighbourhood.

At least 11 other people were wounded, medical officials said.

Ambulances were at the crash site, and thick black smoke was pouring from the wreckage, the AFP news agency reported.

"It's terrible and painful," one resident, Abdullah al-Ashwal, told Reuters. "The police and medics evacuated five completely burned bodies, they were all unrecognisable," he said.

Reuters quoted an unnamed security official as saying the pilot had ejected from the aircraft. The plane was a Russian SU-22, the news agency quoted a military official as saying.

The cause of the crash is being investigated, the interior ministry said.

Last November, 10 people were killed when a Yemeni military transport plane crashed near Sanaa airport.