Baisa (Iraq), November 2
Guerrillas shot down a US Chinook helicopter as it flew towards Baghdad airport today, killing at least 15 soldiers in the bloodiest attack on occupying troops since Saddam Hussein was overthrown.“Fifteen soldiers have been killed in action and some 21 wounded,’’ a US Army spokesman said.
The crippled helicopter came down in farmland near Baisa village south of the flashpoint town of Falluja, a stronghold of anti-US resistance 50 km west of Baghdad.
Several US helicopters circled overhead and other helicopters and US Humvees were parked around the wreckage.
The US Army said the helicopter was one of two Chinook transport helicopters heading towards Baghdad airport carrying soldiers on a rest and recreation trip.
It said the helicopter, carrying around 30 persons, including five crew members, had been ‘’shot down by an unknown weapon’’.
Local residents in Falluja said two surface-to-air missiles had been fired but that only one hit its target.
‘’There were two American helicopters. They fired a missile at one and missed, and then they hit the other, which crashed and caught fire,’’ witness Dawoud Suleiman said.
Troops kept reporters away from the crash site as another military helicopter with a Red Cross sign on its side landed, sending up clouds of dust from the dry scrubland.
US soldiers told journalists to leave the area and confiscated film rolls from photographers at the
scene.
Fallujah: The coalition forces also announced the death of a US soldier in a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad early this morning as insurgents made good on threats to make the weekend a bloody one for the Americans.
Although listing 33 casualties, a spokesperson in Baghdad said 25 passengers and five crew members, all probably American, were aboard the helicopter, which was travelling with another Chinook that carried another 25 persons.
The helicopters were attached to the 12th Aviation Brigade operating in support of the 82nd Airborne Division.
It was at least the fourth time since the USA declared an end to major hostilities on May 1, that the coalition has reported helicopters being hit by anti-US forces. The previous strikes, however, did not cause any fatalities.
The latest attack came in the wake of a warning on Friday by the US State Department of “credible information that terrorists have targeted civil aviation in Iraq.”
Washington: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today that the USA would continue its efforts to stabilise Iraq, despite a deadly attack there that left at least 15 US troops dead.
— Reuters, AP
