US copter down in Iraq; 12 feared dead (AP) Updated: 2006-01-09 06:55
A U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter went down in northern Iraq, killing all 12
Americans believed to be aboard in the deadliest crash in nearly a year, while
five U.S. Marines died in weekend attacks, the military said Sunday.
A file photo of U.S. Army Black Hawk
helicopter. [AP] | The latest deaths followed an
especially bloody week in which about 200 Iraqis and a dozen U.S. troops were
killed. Iraqi politicians, meanwhile, claimed headway in forming a stable
coalition government following the Dec. 15 elections, whose final results may be
released this week.
U.S. military officials said the UH-60 Black Hawk crashed just before
midnight Saturday about seven miles east of Tal Afar, a northern city near the
Syrian border that has seen heavy fighting with insurgents.
"All (those killed) are believed to be U.S. citizens," military spokesman Lt.
Col. Barry Johnson said.
He did not say what caused the crash, but bad weather has wracked most of
Iraq.
The Black Hawk was part of a two-helicopter team providing support for the
101st Airborne Division and was flying between bases when communications were
lost, the military said. After a search, the helicopter was found about noon
Sunday, the military said.
The helicopter was part of Task Force Band of Brothers and attached to the
101st Aviation Brigade, but Maj. Tom Bryant, spokesman for the division's 3rd
Brigade, said the helicopter was not from Fort Campbell, Ky., and belonged to
another unit.
Bryant could not say what unit the helicopter belonged to or whether any
soldiers from the 101st were aboard. Master Sgt. Terry Webster of division
public affairs could not identify what unit operated the helicopter.
It was the deadliest helicopter crash in Iraq since a CH-53 Sea Stallion went
down in bad weather in western Iraq on Jan. 26, 2005, killing 31 U.S. service
members.
In Saturday's crash, records indicated that eight passengers and four crew
members were aboard.
Three Marines were killed Sunday by small arms attacks in Fallujah, 40 miles
west of Baghdad, the military said. Two other Marines were killed Saturday by
roadside bombs in separate incidents, the military said.
With the latest Marine deaths, at least 2,199 members of the U.S. military
have died since the war started in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
That toll did not include those killed aboard the Black Hawk.
In other violence Sunday, five people died in separate attacks in Baghdad,
including a policeman killed by a suicide car bomber targeting an Interior
Ministry patrol. Seven others were wounded.
Meanwhile, a French engineer abducted Dec. 5 apparently was dumped on a
Baghdad street by his fleeing captors and recovered by U.S. troops, who turned
him turned over to the French Embassy on Sunday, according to Iraqi police and
the French Foreign Ministry in Paris.
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