Spokeswoman Hainirisso Komilova dismissed the report carried by Tajik news agency Asia Plus and Russian news wires. The reports quote unidentified security sources as saying the victims included 21 soldiers of an elite anti-terror unit.

Komilova said four people died instantly when the Mi-8 helicopter went down Wednesday near the town of Garm and three died later as a result of their injuries.

Garm is the main city in the volatile Rasht Valley, where government troops have been conducting a security raid against militants who ambushed a military convoy last month, killing at least 25 soldiers.

Komilova said the crash apparently was caused by a technical problem.

She would not comment on media reports that six National Guards soldiers were also killed Wednesday when their truck hit a land mine in the Rasht Valley.

The fighting in Tajikistan has raised fears that militancy is spilling over from neighboring Afghanistan.

Authorities have said that the militants include fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan led by a Tajik warlord who played a prominent role during Tajikistan’s civil war.

Around 100,000 people were killed in the 1992-97 conflict between a secular government and mostly Islamic opposition, which made Tajikistan one of the poorest countries in the world.