Several people, including soldiers from an outlawed Kurdish rebel group, were killed in a mysterious crash in northern Iraq, the Associated Press reported, citing a statement from Iraq's Kurdish-run counterterrorism agency.

The helicopter crashed in the Chamanke district of Dahuk province in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, the service said in a statement posted on social media, BTA reports.

All passengers died, the statement said.

An investigator at the scene of the crash said at least seven people were on board.

The helicopter was carrying fighters from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

It is not yet known who owns the helicopter.

The Iraqi government, the US-led international coalition against Islamic State and Turkey have contacted the Iraqi Kurdish regional government about the crash, but all have denied the helicopter was theirs, the statement added.

Zagros Khiva, a spokesman for the PKK, said it had no helicopters and was also investigating the incident.

He also cast doubt on the presence of PKK fighters on board the plane, saying it could be a coalition helicopter carrying People's Protection Units fighters.

A spokesman for the US-led coalition declined to comment, saying the crash was outside the coalition's scope of operations.

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Turkish Defense Ministry officials said initial reports that the helicopter was Turkish were "completely false" and that no helicopter belonging to the Turkish military had been flying in the region.

The PKK has waged an insurgency against Turkey since the 1980s and is considered a terrorist group by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.

Its fighters have established sanctuaries in northern Iraq and are frequently targeted by Turkish attacks in the region.

Iraq

helicopter crash