The US Embassy on Thursday said the plane crash in Maguindanao del Sur that killed four people involved an American military-contracted aircraft.

"We can confirm that a US military contracted aircraft crashed in Maguindanao Del Sur on February 6," US Embassy spokesman Kanishka Gangopadhyay said in a statement.

"For further information, we refer you to US Indo-Pacific Command," he said.

Local officials said the aircraft, identified in reports as a Beech King Air 300, crashed in a rice field in Barangay Malatimon in Ampatuan. DMS