Mech
Joined: 06 Jun 2001
Posts: 8237
Location: THE 4th REICH USA |
 Fri Nov 07, 2003 4:20 pm
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ANOTHER HELICOPTER DOWN
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U.S. Black Hawk Helicopter Crashes in Iraq, 6 Killed
33 minutes ago
By Sasa Kavic
TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - A U.S. Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Iraq on Friday, killing all six people on board, and U.S. soldiers said it had probably been shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade.
Apache attack helicopters scoured the area around the crash site in Tikrit, 110 miles north of Baghdad, hunting for guerrillas near Saddam Hussein's hometown who may have brought down the Black Hawk.
If confirmed to have been attacked by insurgents, it would be the third U.S. helicopter shot down in two weeks.
The U.S. military said two U.S. soldiers had also been killed in the northern city of Mosul, one in a bomb attack on Thursday morning and one in an ambush on Friday.
"At approximately 9 a.m. this morning a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter went down," Major Josslyn Aberle of the 4th Infantry Division told reporters. "At this stage we don't know if it was due to mechanical failure or another reason."
Soldiers in Tikrit said initial reports suggested the helicopter had been hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
A column of smoke rose from the crash site, and U.S. troops sealed off the area. Soldiers at the base said they heard two explosions and ran outside to see the destroyed helicopter.
The Army said the helicopter had burst into flames after crashing on the banks of the Tigris river.
CURFEW MAY BE REIMPOSED
Aberle said the U.S. military was considering reimposing a night-time curfew around Tikrit as a result of the incident. The curfew had been lifted for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The Black Hawk is the U.S. Army's frontline utility helicopter, designed to carry 11 combat-ready assault troops, and is also used for medical evacuations.
Last Sunday, guerrillas shot down a U.S. Chinook helicopter west of Baghdad as it carried troops on a rest and recreation break, killing 16 American soldiers in the deadliest single strike on U.S.-led forces since they invaded to oust Saddam.
On October 25, guerrillas brought down a Black Hawk in Tikrit, hitting one of its engines with a rocket-propelled grenade. The helicopter made an emergency landing, and all five crew members escaped before it was engulfed in flames.
In another blow to U.S. efforts to stabilize Iraq, a Turkish government source confirmed that Ankara had dropped plans to send thousands of troops to help secure the country.
Turkey's parliament approved the deployment last month but the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council objected, saying it did not want troops from neighboring countries on Iraqi soil. Turkey is a former imperial power in Iraq and has tense relations with Iraq's Kurds, who are represented on the Council.
SOLDIER KILLED IN AMBUSH
In Mosul, gunmen with rocket-propelled grenades killed one soldier and wounded six others in an ambush on a U.S. convoy on Friday, Sergeant Kelly Tyler of the 101st Airborne Division told Reuters.
A soldier from the same division was killed in a roadside bomb blast on a highway near Mosul on Thursday, the Army said.
The attacks brought to at least 141 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in action since Washington declared major combat over on May 1 -- more than the 114 killed in March and April.
Tyler said there had been a marked increase in attacks around Mosul over recent days.
"Over the last few days, attacks have increased and more significantly, the effects have been greater," Tyler said.
Near the restive town of Baquba, hundreds of U.S. troops backed up by armored vehicles raided a village on Friday, and locals said the troops were hunting for Rashid Taan Kazim, a former regional chairman of Saddam's Baath Party who is number 49 on a U.S. list of the 55 most-wanted Iraqi fugitives.
The raid ended without anybody on the most-wanted list being captured, U.S. officers in the town northeast of Baghdad said.
In another series of raids around Qusayba on the Syrian border, members of an "anti-Coalition cell" were detained, the Army said. It said the operation, named "All American Tiger," also seized weapons and pro-Saddam paraphernalia.
Saddam -- top of the list with a $25 million price on his head -- remains on the run.
The New York Times quoted military officials as saying a new U.S. covert commando force had been created to hunt Osama bin Laden and Saddam, and had come close to finding the deposed Iraqi leader.
Task Force 121 includes troops from the Army, Navy and Air Force and is supplemented by a conventional force which can be used to secure the perimeter of an area where a raid is about to take place, the paper said. (Additional reporting by Andrew Hammond and Dean Yates in Baghdad and Seb Walker in Mosul) |
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