The two-seat plane was practicing a nighttime attack maneuver some 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the capital when the accident took place, the chief of staff for French forces in Djibouti said in a statement.

Pilot Tony Romero, 30, and navigator Mathieu Colomba, 32, were killed in the crash, according to officials at the air base in the eastern French city of Nancy, where both had been based.

An internal inquiry has been launched, the defense ministry said, with officials saying it was too early to determine why the pilot was unable to stabilize the jet before it crashed.

Djibouti, a former French colony, hosts France's largest military base in Africa.

The Horn of Africa state last month also became the new headquarters of a US counterterrorism task force.

WAR.WIRE