A jet bomber of the Assad regime crashed just after take-off from Syria's Hama airport after it encountered a technical problem, a Syrian military source said on Sunday.The military source, quoted by Assad media, did not say when the crash had occurred or provide any other details.

The pilot, identified as Major Ayham Khardra, died in the incident according to pro-Assad Al-Masdar News.Several Russian-manufactured warplanes have crashed since the start of the year, mostly due to technical failures which defence analysts have generally attributed to age.An opposition source told Reuters the plane that crashed was a Russian Mig 21 fighter but this could not be independently verified.