The Russian-made MI-171 aircraft crashed on Wednesday night around 9:00 pm local time (2000 GMT) near the airport in the oasis town of El-Meniaa, the ministry said in a statement.

All three military personnel on board -- a colonel, a lieutenant colonel and a sergeant -- were killed, it added.

An investigation to determine the cause of the crash was opened at the request of armed forces chief General Said Chengriha, the statement added.

In January 2023, three Algerian naval officers died when a helicopter of the same type crashed about 200 kilometres southwest of Algiers.