Two Helicopter Pilots Killed in Crash North of Baghdad

[hadrons]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (June 27) - A U.S. Apache attack helicopter crashed Monday north of Baghdad, killing both pilots, a day after a series of suicide attacks left nearly three dozen people dead in northern Iraq.

Later Monday, a car bomb exploded between a movie house and Sunni Arab mosque in eastern Baghdad, killing at least four people and injuring 16, authorities said. The New Baghdad area is packed with small shops and markets selling everything from vegetables to clothes, and it usually is crowded with shoppers in the hours before curfew.

The AH-64 crashed in Mishahda, 20 miles north of the capital, and was in flames on the ground, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said. Witness Mohammed Naji told Associated Press Television News he saw two helicopters flying toward Mishahda when ''a rocket hit one of them and destroyed it completely in the air.''

The two pilots were killed in the crash, which is under investigation, said Lt. Col. Clifford Kent, spokesman for the 3rd Infantry Division.

Heavy gunfire was heard at the time of the crash and shots also were heard afterward, the AP reporter said.

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http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050625175209990003

[lebkuchen]

1. Is that missile one of ours?

used against our own?

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Was reported as a "crash" on the news this morning

The part about it being shot down only comes after, when it isn't news anymore.

[benburch]

4. To be fair...

Until you investigate you don't know more than that it crashed, usually.

[Oversea Visitor]

3. Oohh they learn how to the birdies now