( CNN ) -- A Yemeni military plane crashed into a residential area of the capital Monday , killing the pilot and injuring at least 18 people on the ground , the Yemeni government said . The government would not confirm the death toll . It was unclear how many people were aboard the plane . The Russian-made Sukhoi Su-22 , a fighter jet , was on a training mission when it crashed in southern Sanaa , Yemeni state TV reported . Three houses and a four-story building caught fire after the crash , and the fire was spreading . Firefighters later managed to extinguish the fire in the four-story building , state TV said . The Defense Ministry said a mechanical fault caused the crash and the jet was not shot down . It was the third fatal air crash in Sanaa in the past year . In February , a military fighter jet on a training mission went down in a residential section of Sanaa , killing at least 10 people and injuring 21 . At least one of the missiles the plane was carrying exploded in that crash . Last November , a military cargo plane caught fire and crashed in the city , killing 10 people . Journalist Hakim Almasmari in Sanaa and CNN 's Yousuf Basil in Atlanta contributed to this report .
The plane crashed into a residential area . The pilot was killed , and at least 18 people on the ground were injured . Several houses caught fire after the crash . It is the third fatal crash in Jakarta in the past year .