One of Copters in Collision May Have Been Hit, U.S. Says

The U.S. military acknowledged Sunday for the first time that the collision of two Black Hawk helicopters in Mosul -- the deadliest incident of the war for American forces -- may have been caused by hostile fire.

Until now, the military had not publicly disclosed a possible cause of the Nov. 15 collision, which killed 17 soldiers.

Col. Joe Anderson, a commander with the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, said that one helicopter apparently was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

The soldiers who died were from the 101st, based at Ft. Campbell, Ky.

The rocket-propelled grenade apparently caused one Black Hawk to slam into the other, although the incident is still under investigation, said Anderson, whose brigade controls Mosul.

At the time of the collision, several witnesses reported that one of the helicopters was hit by ground fire, but the military had declined to speculate on the cause.