4 hurt when 2 Israeli helicopters collide

JERUSALEM --Two Apache attack helicopter crashed in northern Israel near the Lebanon border early Friday, injuring four soldiers, the Israeli military said.

Al-Jazeera TV reported that four Israeli soldiers were killed, but did not give a source.

An Associated Press photographer saw the wreckage of one helicopter on the ground. The helicopters collided near the village of Ramot Naftali, which is about 2 1/2 miles east of the Israel-Lebanon border in the Galilee panhandle.

Israel has been conducting a large-scale military operation in Lebanon, involving large numbers of aircraft, including attack helicopters.

On Feb. 4, 1997, 73 soldiers were killed when two transport helicopters ferrying them to Lebanon crashed over northern Israel, the worst military mishap in the country's history.