NATO says helicopter drone lost in Libya

NATO says it has lost radar contact with a helicopter drone conducting a reconnaissance flight over Libya, denying that one of its attack helicopters crashed. The military alliance's command centre in Naples, Italy, lost track of the unmanned autonomous helicopter drone at 0720 GMT (1720 AEST), NATO military spokesman Mike Bracken said in a statement.

'This drone helicopter was performing intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance over Libya to monitor pro-Gaddafi forces threatening the civilian population. We are looking into the reason behind this incident,' he said.

'NATO confirms it has not lost any attack helicopters during Operation Unified Protector