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U.S. Helicopter Downed, Eight Killed
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The Black Hawk is the workhorse of U.S. occupation forces
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BAGHDAD,
January 8 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A U.S. Black Hawk
helicopter went down in western Baghdad on Thursday, January 8,
killing all eight people aboard in an apparently fresh missile attack
in the violence-scarred country, press reports said.
“The
warplane was hit by a missile on air, and we rushed to the area to see
a trail of smoke billowing up in the air from the burning chopper,”
eyewitnesses were quoted by Al-Jazeera as saying.
The
eyewitnesses said they saw at least six bodies doting the scene in
Fallujah city, with no word whether they are all Americans.
A
U.S. spokesman told the Associated Press that at least four of the
deaths were soldiers.
The
attack is a fresh setback for occupation forces, one day after one
American soldier was
killed and 34 others injured in a mortar attack on a U.S. military
base also west of Baghdad.
The
downing – the deadliest for Americans in Iraq since Nov. 15 when two
Black Hawks collided under fire in Mosul killing 17 soldiers, also put
an end to a period of relative calm, and revive memories of unsafe
atmosphere for the occupation forces on air and ground.
The
Black Hawk is the main workhorse of U.S. combat troops.
‘Emergency
Landing’
The
U.S. military denied the report, saying the plane plunged for
“emergency landing” reasons.
"A
UH-60 helicopter had an emergency landing near Fallujah, there were
four crew and four passengers on board, eight killed in action,"
a spokesman said according to Agence France-Press (AFP).
The
Blackhawk was flying a medical evacuation when it crash landed at 2:22
pm (1122 GMT), the spokesman said.
Smoldering
debris littered the crash site in the village of Nuamiya five
kilometers (three miles) southeast of Fallujah, said an AFP
correspondent at the scene.
Witnesses
said two helicopters were seen in the skies overhead when one suddenly
plunged from the sky.
Two
choppers later landed by the crash site, while another two hovered
overhead.
Falluja
has long been a trouble area for occupation forces since the death
more than 15 people in demonstration against occupation in April as
anti-American sentiments are on the rise among local inhabitants.
On
November 2, a Chinook helicopter was shot down near Fallujah, killing
16 American soldiers and injuring 26. The military believes a SA-7
shoulder-fired missile slammed into one of the chopper's rear-mounted
engines.
In
the last such incident, resistance fighters shot down an OH-58
observation helicopter in central Iraq, killing one pilot and injuring
another on January 2.
It
was the deadliest aircraft incident since November 15 when two
Blackhawks collided over the northern city of Mosul, killing 17 on
board, after one chopper was thought to have dodged a rocket-propelled
grenade (RPG).
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