ALGIERS, Feb 21 — An Algerian fighter jet has crashed during an overnight training exercise, killing its two crew members, the defence ministry said today.

The Russian-made Sukhoi SU-24 plane went down in an uninhabited farming area in the province of Tiaret, around 250km southwest of Algiers, the ministry said in a statement.

The pilot and co-pilot were killed during the "night-time training flight”, it said, adding that it was investigating the causes of the accident.

It was the latest in a string of aviation disasters over recent years that have claimed hundreds of lives in the North African country.

In April, an Ilyushin IL-76 transport plane slammed into a field near an airbase south of Algiers, killing 257 people — Algeria’s deadliest such incident in 20 years.

It was mostly carrying army personnel and their family members on their way back to their barracks in the country’s far south.

Several previous accidents were due to poor maintenance of the military fleet, Algerian media has reported. — AFP