South Sudan’s army yesterday shot down a UN helicopter killing all four crew on board, a UN spokesman said.

The helicopter was hit on a reconnaissance flight over a troubled part of the world’s newest nation where the Government has already tried to stop the UN and rights groups investigating allegations of massacres and other abuses.

Deputy UN spokesman Eduardo del Buey told reporters in New York the South Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) had admitted to the UN that it had hit the MI-8 helicopter.

The helicopter was in the Likuangole district of troubled Jonglei state in the east of South Sudan, which became independent in July last year after splitting from Sudan.