A Sudanese military plane crashed at the airport in the southern town of Awil on Saturday killing all seven crew and 13 soldiers on board, officials said. "Twenty people were killed - seven crew and 13 others, soldiers," said an army spokesman. He said it was an Antonov 29 plane that caught fire and exploded. The crash took place at 9:30am (0630 GMT).

A senior southern army official said the plane crashed on landing at the airport when the front tyre of the plane burst.

"When landing the front tyre burst and they couldn't control the plane so it hit a building near the airport," said Elias Waya Nyipuocs, a senior official in the south Sudanese army.

He added the plane then caught fire. He could not confirm that the plane had exploded. Nyipuocs said it seemed the crash was an accident. Sudan, the largest country in Africa, has few tarmac roads and relies heavily on air transport.

Copyright Reuters, 2006