U.S. helicopter crash in Iraq kills 7

Thursday, February 8, 2007

A CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed in the Al-Anbar province of Iraq approximately 20 miles outside of Baghdad on Monday. The helicopter was carrying seven passengers and crew at the time of the crash. No survivors were reported at the site.

Marines load a simulated casualty onto a CH-46E Sea Knight helicopter while conducting convoy operations training.

Major General William B. Caldwell, a spokesman for the U.S. military told reporters in Baghdad , "A quick-reaction force is on site and the investigation is going on as we speak." He did not specify whether mechanical failure or ground fire had brought it down.

Witnesses at the crash site report seeing gunfire from the ground. The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group of several Sunni insurgent groups, including Al-Qaeda in Iraq, has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying one of its "air defense brigades" had shot it down.

Including Wednesday's most recent attack, the U.S. military has suffered five such helicopters crashes, resulting in the loss of 28 servicemen in the past 3 weeks. Since May 2003 the U.S. has lost 55 helicopters to mechanical failure and being shot down.

At the time of the crash the helicopter was conducting "routine operations".

In response to recent losses the U.S. military has begun to implement new changes in flight operations. Although they would not stipulate the exact changes, General Caldwell insured the military was "making adjustments in our tactics and techniques and procedures as to how we employ our helicopters".

Sources

"Iraq helicopter crash kills seven" — Al Jazeera, February 8, 2007
Associated Press. "U.S. Helicopter Crashes in Iraq; 7 Dead" — The Columbian, February 7,2007
Rob Watson. "Questions mount over US helicopter losses" — BBC News Online, February 7, 2007
Dean Yates. "U.S. air crash in Iraq kills 7" — Reuters Online, February 7,2007

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License