AN Iraqi military helicopter providing aid to Yazidi refugees stranded on a mountain after fleeing Sunni militants has crashed, killing the pilot, after too many people tried to climb aboard, an army spokesman says.

LIEUTENANT General Qassim al-Moussawi said in a statement that Iraqi parliamentarian Vian Dakheel, of the minority Yazidi community, was aboard the Russian-built Mi-17 helicopter and was injured in Tuesday's crash.

Originally published as Iraqi helicopter crashes on aid mission