Helicopter is fourth to crash in two weeks

BAGHDAD -- An American helicopter crashed north of Baghdad yesterday, the fourth one lost in the past two weeks by the US military and private companies. Two American soldiers were killed in the crash, the US military said.

The craft went down around 7 a.m. near Taji, about 15 miles north of Baghdad.

The cause of the crash was still under investigation; however, an Iraqi police official, Major Hatem Al-Dulaimi, said the aircraft was brought down by a shoulder-fired antiaircraft missile.

In a statement, the military said the helicopter went down "while conducting operations." It said the remains of the two soldiers were recovered and the site secured. The names of the soldiers were being withheld pending notification of relatives.

In Washington, General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged that insurgent ground fire in Iraq "has been more effective against our helicopters in the last couple of weeks."

But Pace said it was unclear whether these are " some kind of new tactics or techniques that we need to adjust to."

A man who said he was a spokesman for an insurgent group in the area of yesterday's helicopter downing said the attack was a joint operation between the "mujahideen" and the Mujahideen Shura Council -- an umbrella organization of seven insurgent groups linked to Al Qaeda in Iraq.

American forces surrounded the area and prevented anyone from entering, said the spokesman, who gave his name as Abu Hamza.

US officials also reported a raid in the volatile city of Ramadi that led to the arrest of 11 men suspected of orchestrating attacks with improvised explosive devices. Separately, news services reported that US forces had killed 18 suspected insurgents in the city after repeatedly coming under attack beginning Thursday night.

It was not clear whether the events were connected. Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, is a center of insurgent activity and has been the scene of repeated clashes between US forces and Sunni militants.

The US command said the Ramadi battle began after insurgents opened fire on the Americans from several positions. No civilian or US casualties were reported, the military said.

The US forces returned fire with machine guns, tanks, and finally a missile, which struck the intended target.

The United States has lost more than 50 helicopters in Iraq since May 2003, about half of them to hostile fire.

In addition to the helicopter that was downed yesterday, three other American helicopters have been lost in Iraq in the past two weeks.

A Black Hawk crashed north of Baghdad on Jan. 20, killing 12 soldiers onboard. The next week a civilian helicopter was downed in central Baghdad while assisting a US Embassy convoy that came under attack. Five security contractors employed by Blackwater USA died in that case.

Earlier in the week, a military helicopter crashed while participating in an Iraqi-led raid on an insurgent camp in the southern province of Najaf.

The military is still investigating what happened to that aircraft. An Iraqi official involved in the Najaf raid said the helicopter lost during the operation had also been shot down.

Iraqi insurgents have used heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and shouldered-fired SA-7 anti-aircraft missiles throughout the Iraq conflict. US officials believe Iran is supplying Shi'ite militias with new weapons, including more powerful roadside bombs, Katyusha rockets, and a newer class of rocket-propelled grenades.

Some of those weapons could have found their way into the hands of Sunni insurgents, who operate around Taji.

The US military relies heavily on helicopters to avoid roadside bombs and insurgent ambushes.

Also yesterday the US military announced the death of a Task Force Lightening soldier killed Thursday in a vehicle rollover accident. Two other American soldiers died in a car accident Thursday, the military said in a separate statement. The Multi-National Corps soldiers died after the accident at Camp Liberty in Baghdad.

In Baghdad, police said they found the bodies of 23 people with bullet wounds throughout the capital -- apparent victims of Shi'ite or Sunni death squads. Three more bodies were found in Kut, southeast of Baghdad, and two in Mosul.

Also in Anbar, gunmen assassinated the Sunni chairman of the Fallujah City Council, Abbas Ali Hussein, an outspoken critic of Al Qaeda. He was the third council chairman assassinated in Fallujah this year as insurgents target Sunnis willing to cooperate with the United States and its Iraqi partners.

Insurgents renewed their attacks yesterday, prompting US forces to fire another missile that killed at least three attackers.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met yesterday with US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and the outgoing US commander in Baghdad, General George Casey, to discuss a planned major military operation in Baghdad, state television said. It gave no further details.

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.