A Vietnamese fighter-bomber Sukhoi Su-22 crashed in Vietnam's central Nghe An province on Thursday, killing two pilots, local media reported.

Senior Lieutenant-General Nguyen Trong Nghia, vice chairman of the General Political Department under the Vietnamese People's Army, told online newspaper VietNamNet that the Air and Air Defense Force told him the Su-22 with two pilots on board had an accident when conducting a regular training flight on a hill in Nghia Yen commune, Nghia Dan district.

"The two pilots have died," the newspaper quoted Ngo Trong Nghia, chief of the communal police, as saying.

The aircraft departed from the civil-military airport of Sao Vang in the neighbor central province of Thanh Hoa, Vietnam News Agency reported. It was broken into pieces after crashing with a big explosion.

The Sukhoi Su-22 is a variant of the Sukhoi Su-17, a Soviet variable-sweep wing fighter-bomber.