An unknown number of people were injured in an army helicopter crash in a remote area of the southeastern Peruvian province of Huancavelica due to heavy winds, a media report said.

'When it was already near the ground and was going to land, a very heavy wind came up and knocked the helicopter down,' Defence Minister Rafael Rey said Tuesday.

He said the chopper was en route to the valley of the Apurimac and Ene Rivers, or VRAE, Peru's principal cocaine-producing region.

The crew members suffered bruises but are in good health, Rey added.

The minister ruled out a rebel attack as the cause for the crash, and refused to reveal the exact location of the accident 'for security reasons,' a Peru.com news report said.

RPP radio, meanwhile, reported that the chopper crashed in the district of Tayacaja.

The aircraft had taken off at 6 a.m. from Jauja in the central province of Junin carrying relief for a police-military joint task force deployed in the region to battle drug traffickers and remnants of the Shining Path guerrilla group.

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