12 dead in Blackhawk crash, says military

[Bat-Off]

January 21, 2007 07:13pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse
Font size: + -
Send this article: Print Email

THE US military today said 12 soldiers had been killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq and not 13 as it had reported earlier.

It is still one of the deadliest single incidents involving US troops.
The Blackhawk helicopter went down northeast of Baghdad yesterday, killing everyone on board.
"Twelve American soldiers, which included eight passengers and four crew members, were aboard the aircraft and all were killed," an updated statement from the military said today.
"This is a correction from the 13 casualties initially reported.
The crash remains under investigation.
In a separate incident reported today, five US soldiers were killed and three wounded in a firefight with militiamen in the southern Iraq shrine city of Karbala, where the 10-day Shiite mourning period of Ashura is under way.
The US military said the clash erupted as Iraqi security forces, officials and coalition forces were meeting to discuss security measures for the Ashura ceremony.
"The provincial joint co-ordination centre (PJCC) in Karbala was attacked with grenades, small arms and indirect fire by an illegal armed militia group on January 20," the military said.
Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, deputy commander of US military, said that "a meeting was taking place at the time of the attack to ensure the security of Shiite pilgrims participating in the Ashura commemorations".
The site of the fight was secured by coalition and Iraqi security forces, the military said.
Ashura, which commemorates the seventh-century slaying of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein in Karbala, has been marred in the past by attacks by Sunni extremists that have killed scores of people.