French officials have dispatched a military unit to secure the site in restive northern Mali where an Air Algerie plane crashed with the loss of 116 people.

There are fears today that scattered separatist violence may hamper an eventual investigation into what is the third major international aviation disaster in a week.

The wreckage of the Air Algerie plane that went missing has been found about 31 miles from the border of Burkina Faso near the village of Boulikessi in Mali, a presidential aide said.

An army general in Burkina Faso who is involved in the search for the missing Air Algerie flight carrying 116 people, claims that a witness saw a plane coming down in Mali.

An Algerian aviation official says the passenger plane missing over Northern Mali has crashed.