Helicopter 'fires on bystanders' at Russia's Zapad military exercise

Helicopter 'fires on bystanders' at Russia's Zapad military exercise
By Emma Beswick
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Footage of the incident shows a helicopter firing a salvo of rockets at a military truck, with one man appearing to fall to the ground

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A helicopter mistakenly fired on a group of parked vehicles during a training exercise in western Russia, footage posted to Russian media and social media purported to show.

Footage of the incident, released by independent news site Fontanka.ru, showed a helicopter firing a salvo of rockets at a military truck, with one man appearing to fall to the ground.

Unconfirmed reports said that at least two people were hurt but Russian Defence Ministry denied any injuries.

Interfax news agency cited the ministry’s western military district who said that a helicopter’s targeting system had mistakenly acquired a target during a training exercise, but denied anyone had been injured.

The week-long Zapad 2017 military exercise was held in both Russia and Belarus and involved 13,000 troops, hundreds of tanks, aircraft, warships and other military hardware.

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