2 Black Hawk Helicopters Crash in Iraq; 17 Aboard Die

Two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters plummeted to the ground Saturday in this northern city, killing at least 17 soldiers and wounding five others in the largest single loss of American life in Iraq since major combat ended May 1, the military said.

The crash -- the latest in a string of deadly incidents involving U.S. helicopters in Iraq -- came as the United States took steps to reduce its civilian presence in the country far earlier than originally envisioned. In the course-changing move, L. Paul Bremer III, the top U.S. official here, signed an agreement with the Iraqi Governing Council that calls for the American-led occupation to end, the council to dissolve and a transitional government to take power by the end of June.

“This is a historic day for the Iraqi people; we will regain Iraq’s sovereignty and independence which was lost under the dictatorship,” said Jalal Talabani, a Kurd serving as the president of the Governing Council.

Despite the agreement, many thousands of American troops would remain in the country for the foreseeable future -- albeit in a role governed by a formal agreement with the yet-to-be-formed transitional government.

U.S. officials declined to speculate on the cause of the Mosul crash, and would not comment on reports that a guerrilla attack had downed at least one of the helicopters -- just as hostile fire has claimed two other U.S. helicopters this month in Iraq.

“The investigation is ongoing,” said Sgt. Mark Swart, spokesman for the 101st Airborne Division in Mosul.

One person remains unaccounted for in the crash, officials said.

The dual crash Saturday came hours after the death of a soldier in Baghdad brought to 400 the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the war began in March. So far this month, insurgent attacks have killed nearly 80 coalition troops, including 17 Italians in a suicide bombing in the southern city of Nasiriyah. More than 5,000 Americans have been wounded in the Iraq hostilities.

In recent weeks, there have been significant attacks on coalition forces far outside the “Sunni Triangle,” a region of central Iraq dominated by minority Sunni Muslims that includes Baghdad and is a hotbed of insurgent activity.

Gen. John Abizaid, commander of coalition forces in Iraq, said earlier this month that the widening area of the attacks -- from Nasiriyah and Basra in the south and Mosul in the north -- “is part of a strategy to make people believe that nowhere is safe in Iraq.”

Formerly quiet Mosul has seen a marked increase in attacks on both coalition forces and civilians cooperating with the Americans.

The crash in Mosul occurred about 6:30 p.m., roughly an hour after sundown, officials said. Both pilots were qualified in low-visibility flights using night-vision goggles, said Spc. Joshua Hutcheson, a spokesman for the 101st Airborne.

The two aircraft hit the ground within 250 yards of each other, the Army said.

The helicopters -- UH-60 Black Hawks, an Army workhorse -- went down in a residential district of western Mosul as many people were visiting neighborhood mosques to say their evening prayers during the holy month of Ramadan.

“I heard an explosion and I looked up and saw fire in the sky,” said Maher Qasim, 17, a high school student. “Then the two helicopters fell apart and came down to the ground.” There were no immediate reports of casualties among residents.

A U.S. officer at the scene told Reuters news agency Saturday that one of the helicopters was hit on the tail by a rocket-propelled grenade. Witnesses said it then collided with the other Black Hawk, and both crashed, Reuters reported.

But among residents interviewed here this morning, no one reported witnessing any hostile fire directed at the aircraft. After the crash, rumors swept through the neighborhood that a man in a BMW was firing an antiaircraft weapon at the helicopters, but there was no official corroboration of the story.

One helicopter was ferrying troops, while the other was carrying an Army emergency response team, the military said. Maj. Trey Cate of the 101st Airborne said the two helicopters were on unrelated missions; the emergency team was responding to a shooting of an American soldier in the neighborhood when it crashed.

One of the choppers was carrying 10 people, and all aboard died, officials said. The other aircraft was carrying 12 people, and seven of those aboard were killed.

Soon after the crash, Army troops and Iraqi police and fire units sealed off the crash sites. This morning, U.S. forces used a crane to lift the shell of one of the helicopters off the roof of a two-story residential building.

The incident seems certain to raise new questions about the role of helicopters in the Iraqi theater, where the stubborn guerrilla insurgency has caused increasing numbers of U.S. casualties.

Helicopters are an integral part of the U.S. military machine in this country slightly larger than California, where roads are often nothing more than dirt tracks and military convoys are subject to attack from concealed assailants or homemade bombs hidden in the bush or buried in the ground. Choppers patrol Baghdad and other cities, respond to attacks, ferry troops, accompany convoys and evacuate wounded, among other tasks.

But the crash of the two aircraft in Mosul brings to five the number of helicopters that have gone down in a three-week span, including a nonfatal downing late last month. Enemy gunfire is believed to have brought down the previous three, the military says.

The string of helicopter incidents began Oct. 25 near Tikrit, north of Baghdad, in which a Black Hawk was hit by ground fire but no one was seriously injured.

That was not the case Nov. 2, when a Chinook transport chopper was shot down near the town of Fallouja, west of Baghdad, killing 16.

Five days later, a Black Hawk was brought down by fire along the Tigris River outside Tikrit, killing six Americans.

The escalating number of attacks in Iraq against U.S. forces -- as many as 30 daily, the Army says -- has prompted the military in recent days to launch a series of offensive operations in Baghdad and the rest of the Sunni Triangle. The Army has attacked suspected enemy positions with laser-guided bombs, helicopter gunships and ground forces.

Still, the insurgents’ attacks have continued. The soldier killed Saturday morning in Baghdad was a member of the 1st Armored Division whose patrol was hit by a roadside bomb. Two other soldiers were injured in the blast, the military said.

Last week, the U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, said the coalition now believes that foreign and Iraqi jihadis and former regime members are collaborating in mounting attacks. And that collaboration may be bringing more sophisticated techniques and weaponry to bear.

President Bush on Saturday hailed the governing agreement reached by Bremer and the Governing Council as “an important step toward realizing the vision of Iraq as a democratic, pluralistic country at peace with its neighbors.”

He said, “The U.S. stands ready to help the Governing Council and all Iraqis translate this new timeline into political reality. The American people are committed to the future of an Iraq that is democratic and prosperous.”

The plan laid out in detail Saturday will require intensive work for the next seven months until the hand-over to Iraqi sovereignty is complete. The following are the key dates:

* By Feb. 28, 2004, the Governing Council, in consultation with the coalition and other experts, will craft a set of laws that will serve as the operating framework for the transitional government. The laws will consist of a bill of rights, including freedom of speech and equality for all Iraqis regardless of ethnicity, religion or gender. It would stipulate a federal arrangement for Iraq that would maintain a special status for the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq. It would guarantee an independent judiciary and civilian control over the Iraqi army and other security forces.

* By March 31, 2004, the coalition will complete negotiation of a series of bilateral agreements -- separate agreements are likely with each coalition member country -- on the status of coalition forces in Iraq and giving them wide latitude to operate as they see fit in the interests of the Iraqi people.

* By May 31, 2004, a transitional National Assembly of as many as 250 members will have been formed. This is the key democratic element in the new approach.

The members of the assembly will be selected at the provincial level. They will be chosen by a quasi-democratic caucus system. Each province will have a caucus of roughly 200 people nominated by a 15-member committee, which in turn will be made up of five members selected by the Governing Council, five by the local provincial council and five notables in the province. The number of representatives that each province sends to the National Assembly will depend on the population of the province.

* By June 30, 2004, the transitional National Assembly will elect an executive branch from among its members and appoint ministers. The new transitional administration will be recognized by the coalition and will assume full sovereign powers for governing Iraq. The U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority and the Governing Council will dissolve.

* By March 15, 2005, elections will be held to elect the drafters of the constitution. After the constitution is drafted, it will be publicized and a referendum will be held to approve its contents.

* By Dec. 31, 2005, there will be elections for a new permanent Iraqi government.

McDonnell reported from Mosul and Rubin from Baghdad. Times staff writer Maura Reynolds in Washington contributed to this report.