CAIRO

Four military personnel were killed and two others injured when their aircraft crashed in northwestern Egypt near border with Libya late Thursday, an army spokesman said.

In a statement posted on Facebook, Brigadier-General Mohamed Samir said the aircraft suffered a "technical failure" while chasing militants in Siwa Oasis in the coastal city of Marsa Matrouh.

According to the spokesman, four vehicles used by militants were destroyed and five others seized during the chase.

The crash came on the eve of the second anniversary of the violent dispersal of major protest camps staged in support of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, in which hundreds of protesters were killed.

Egypt has been roiled by instability since the military removed Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, in a 2013 coup following protests against his rule.