Air Crash Kills Key Philippine General

MANILA —  The Philippine armed forces, coping with severe internal divisions, suffered a major loss Saturday when an air force helicopter crashed south of Manila, killing Brig. Gen. Eugenio Ocampo, one of the nation’s ablest counterinsurgency experts.

Another top officer, Brig. Gen. Antonio Samonte, was seriously injured in the accident. The Huey helicopter in which the men were riding crashed in a region largely controlled by guerrillas of the Communist New People’s Army.

Both generals ranked among the closest friends and supporters of Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, the armed forces chief, and were instrumental in helping Ramos crush an attempted coup against President Corazon Aquino by so-called reformist officers nine days ago.

Ocampo had played a major role in aborting an earlier coup planned by the same rebels last November after Aquino fired former Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile from her Cabinet.

Military authorities said they had no details about what may have caused Saturday’s helicopter crash, which a local official in the area said occurred after the helicopter’s tail rotor failed.