14 US soldiers killed in Iraq helicopter crash
Pastor Dale Morgan
14 US soldiers killed in Iraq helicopter crash*
BAGHDAD (AFP) - - Fourteen American soldiers were killed in northern
Iraq on Wednesday when their Blackhawk transport helicopter crashed
during a pre-dawn flight, US command said in a statement.
"Initial indications are that the aircraft experienced a mechanical
malfunction. There were no indications of hostile fire," the military
said, adding that all four crew and 10 passengers died.
Two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from Task Force Lightning, which
operates in northern Iraq, were on the night mission when one of them
went down, according to a statement from the unit's headquarters in Tikrit.
The latest deaths took American military losses since the US-led
invasion to 3,719, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures.
American forces in Iraq make constant use of a huge fleet of
helicopters, and are increasingly dependent on them to avoid the
roadside bombs laid by insurgents and militia fighters along land routes.
The worst single US chopper crash was on November 15, 2003, when two
Blackhawks collided near Mosul in northern Iraq, killing 17 soldiers.
In January and February this year there was a spate of crashes,
including some shot down by an insurgent cell which deployed
anti-aircraft crews north of Baghdad. US forces have since hunted down
those gunners.