Algeria plane slams into house

Witnesses said the crash "was like an earthquake"

At least 12 people have been killed after an Algerian military aircraft crashed into residential houses near the capital Algiers, military and rescue officials have said.

The C130 Hercules transport slammed into a house in the Beni Mered area shortly after take-off from Boufarik military airport, 35 kilometres (22 miles) south-west of Algiers.

Eyewitnesses told the Associated Press news agency they saw one of the plane's engines on fire after it took off.

Officials said four crew members and at least eight people on the ground were killed.

Five other people were injured.

There were also reports that people had been trapped in buildings hit by the plane.

The crash appeared to have been caused by a technical fault, the commander of the Boufarik air base said .

Sifting rubble

Captain Mohammed Moftefaoui of Algeria's civil protection unit said rescuers were sifting through debris for survivors.

"Fortunately the plane crashed along a path where there were few homes. Otherwise the outcome would have been much more serious," he said.

"The crash was like an earthquake," said eyewitness Tewfik Tchanmtchane.

Houses were damaged by debris or caught fire after leaking fuel ignited

"I think most of the victims were boys playing football just near the houses. I saw fire coming from the aircraft before it crashed," he told Reuters news agency.

A commission has been set up to investigate the crash.

In March, a Boeing 737 Air Algerie passenger jet crashed deep in the Algerian Sahara desert, killing 102 people.

The crash was the state-run airline's first since its founding in 1953 and the country's worst air accident since it gained independence from France in 1962.