Deadly Copter Crash Caps One of the Bloodiest Weeks in Iraq

The U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter crash that killed six soldiers here Friday marked the first week of November as the most lethal for U.S. troops since the fall of Baghdad.

The crash along a bank of the Tigris River came just five days after a Chinook helicopter went down near the restive town of Fallouja, killing 16 and injuring more than 20. Officials said that craft was hit by a type of shoulder-fired missile believed to be in wide circulation in this nation awash in weaponry, much of it abandoned in the final days of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

The two crashes, plus a steady stream of lethal attacks on American-led coalition forces, have left 32 U.S. soldiers dead in the first week of November, according to Associated Press.

Military authorities could not say whether enemy fire or mechanical failure brought down the Black Hawk, although speculation was rampant that the elusive armed opposition had scored another direct hit.

“There have been some reports that it was shot down,” said Capt. Jefferson Wolfe, a military spokesman here. “That’s not something we have been able to determine yet.”

Commanders say the mounting death toll and the enemy’s seeming relentlessness -- one soldier was killed and six were wounded Friday morning when their convoy was ambushed east of Mosul -- have not sapped soldiers’ spirits.

“No matter how many attacks there may be on a given day, the morale has not slipped at all,” said Col. David A. Teeples, commander of the Army’s 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which patrols much of western Iraq and suffered losses in Sunday’s crash.

Helicopters are viewed as critical in Iraq for ferrying supplies and soldiers in a large country where roads are unreliable or prone to ambush.

The craft that crashed Friday went down at 9:40 a.m. under fair skies in a riverside area about a mile north of downtown Tikrit. It was one of two Black Hawks from the 101st Airborne Division, based in the northern city of Mosul, making a routine run to the main U.S. base here.

Military helicopters crisscross Iraq daily, with their pilots frequently using landmarks such as the Tigris and Euphrates rivers as guides to their destinations.

The crew of the second Black Hawk, which arrived safely, did not notice any hostile fire directed at the ill-fated chopper.

“They did not report seeing anything strike the other helicopter,” Wolfe said, nor were there any known reports of mechanical problems before the crash.

Several witnesses said they saw a flaming chunk of debris become separated from the craft just before it hit the ground.

“It looked like a fuel tank that crashed to the ground and caused a fire,” said Natiq Hassani, directing a visitor’s gaze to a charred stretch on the riverbank where, he said, the debris had fallen and ignited a blaze.

The Black Hawk hit the ground seconds later, witnesses said. It came to rest amid thick river reeds covering the east bank of a bend in the Tigris.

The helicopter was about a mile or so short of its destination -- a former palace compound that is the headquarters of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, which patrols this zone north of Baghdad. The aircraft was a minute or two from landing when it went down.

The crash area is within a few miles of the site where grenade fire forced a Black Hawk into an emergency landing Oct. 25, injuring one soldier.

If the latest crash is determined to be the result of hostile action, it will mean insurgents have forced down three helicopters in two weeks -- a discouraging accomplishment for Pentagon planners seeking to find ways to quash the opposition.

A military quick-reaction team responded shortly after the crash and secured the area. First reports indicated that two of the six soldiers aboard survived the impact, but the military later said all six had died.

Later in the day, cranes hoisted pieces of the chopper onto a flatbed truck for investigation. Streaks of black marked the place where fire had consumed the thick vegetation.

Overhead, Cobra and other U.S. helicopters circled almost continuously, buzzing this provincial city that is considered one of Iraq’s most hostile to U.S. forces.

Tikrit, which is close to Hussein’s ancestral village, was long a Baath Party stronghold and a place of privilege for Hussein family members, who occupied several palaces. The deposed president’s supporters have lost their standing, and many are furious at Washington and its allies.

U.S. officials say Tikrit and Fallouja -- site of the Chinook downing -- are bastions of the armed opposition. Both are in the midst of the so-called Sunni Triangle, the largely Sunni Muslim homeland that has been at the forefront of the anti-U.S. campaign. Several residents interviewed said the Americans had gotten what they deserved -- and could expect more.

“To tell you the truth, I do support this kind of thing,” said Jasim Mohammed, a 33-year-old former government worker. “Why didn’t the Americans keep their promises to help us?”

However, his friend Shalan Hasan, 30, condemned the act.

“I think it is awful that so many people were killed,” said Hasan, who works at City Hall. “No one has a right to do such a thing.”