Gen Musharraf, who won a new term in office in a controversial vote at the weekend, had already reached his destination in a separate helicopter when the crash happened.

Eight people were injured in the accident, including the President’s spokesman, another spokesman, Major General Waheed Arshad, told Pakistani television.

A local journalist said he saw the army helicopter hit the ground in an apparent crash landing. The aircraft burst into flames after the crash, which happened around 10 miles from Muzaffarabad.

Gen Musharraf has survived several assassination attempts since taking power in a 1999 coup. The most recent happened in July, when militants tried to shoot down his plane after it had taken off from the military airfield at Rawalpindi.

However, officials said Monday’s crash appeared to have been an accident. “It was a technical fault... that’s why it went down,” Maj Gen Arshad was quoted as saying. “It took off after President Musharraf left,” he added. “The President is safe and sound. He has reached his destination.”

A villager said he saw the helicopter trailing smoke as it flew low over houses before hovering over a field, where several soldiers jumped out from a height of three of four metres. The helicopter then crashed, he said.

The man said that he had helped some of the wounded, among them Gen Musharraf’s spokesman, retired Major General Rashid Qureshi. Another army officer said the helicopter was one of three taking Gen Musharraf and his party to Muzaffarabad. The city is around 3,000 metres above sea level, where thin air and changeable weather make flying helicopters difficult.

Kiyani takes over as Vice Chief
Pakistan’s former intelligence chief Lt General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani took over as the vice chief of the army staff on Monday, a step ahead of succeeding President Pervez Musharraf as head of the army, PTI reports from Islamabad.

General Kiyani, a close confidant of Musharraf who personally tracked down military personnel who were involved in two assassination bids on the beleaguered military ruler in 2003, is set to take over as army chief when the President doffs his uniform.

The army had earlier announced that Kiyani, ex-head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) who succeeded Lt Gen Ahsan Saleem Hayat, would assume the post of army chief when Musharraf relinquishes it.

Meanwhile, Lt Gen Tariq Majeed, another close aide of Musharraf, on Monday assumed the key post of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. He succeeded Lt Gen Ahsanul Haq.