An Iranian F-4 Phantom fighter jet crashed during training exercises near the border with Pakistan on Tuesday, killing both pilots, state television reported. State TV quoted a local security official as saying the plane had crashed about 65 kilometres (40 miles) from the city of Konarak in Iran's southern Sistan-Balochistan province.

"Unfortunately a military training aircraft crashed today due to technical problems," killing the pilot and co-pilot, Ali Asghar Mirshekari, the provincial deputy security chief, told the channel. No other details were provided on the possible cause of the crash. Another Iranian F-4 fighter crashed near the city of Shiraz in July 2014, leaving both pilots dead. The Iranian Air Force continues to operate several F-4s bought from the United States before Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2016