7 Dead In Iraq Chopper Crash
A Sea Knight helicopter crashed Wednesday northwest of Baghdad, killing all seven people on board, the military said. It's the fifth chopper lost in Iraq in just over two weeks.
Meanwhile, the long-awaited Baghdad security operation has begun, said U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a day after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki acknowledged the plan to pacify the violence-ridden capital had been slow to start and had allowed insurgents time to step up attacks that have killed hundreds of Iraqis in recent weeks.
The military said the Marine helicopter went down in Anbar Province, an insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, while conducting routine operations and that all seven crew members and passengers were killed in the crash.
It did not give a cause for the crash. A senior U.S. defense official said the CH-46 helicopter did not appear to have been hit by hostile fire, but an Iraqi air force officer said it was downed by an anti-aircraft missile and an al Qaeda-linked Sunni group claimed responsibility for the downing.
The CH-46 was operated by Marines, and other Marine aircraft were in visual contact at the time it went down, the U.S. official said. He said he did not know whether a distress signal was communicated by radio.
A claim of responsibility for downing the helicopter was issued in an Internet statement signed by the Islamic State in Iraq, an umbrella group of several Sunni insurgent groups, including al Qaeda in Iraq. The authenticity of the statement — posted on a Web forum where the group often issues statements — could not be independently confirmed.
CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan reports witnesses said a helicopter had gone down in a field in the Sheik Amir area northwest of Baghdad, sending smoke rising from the scene.
"The helicopter was flying and passed over us, then we heard the firing of a missile," said Mohammad al-Janabi, a farmer who was speaking less than half a mile from the wreckage. "The helicopter then turned into a ball of fire. It flew in a circle twice, then it went down."
In other developments:
U.S. military officials have said the Baghdad operation began to be put in place when President Bush announced it Jan. 10. Caldwell said Wednesday it was "ongoing as we speak." Officials have said there would be no announced start of the security sweep but instead it would build gradually.
The Iraqi officer who is leading the security drive, Lt. Gen. Abboud Gambar, took over the operation headquarters Monday.
"Portions are already being put in place, and we'll continue to put more into place as the forces arrive and the assets become available," Caldwell said.
Mr. Bush is increasing the number of U.S. troops in Iraq by 21,500, including 17,500 for Baghdad, as part of the efforts. But the series of helicopter crashes underscores the dangers facing U.S. troops as they step up their presence.
The Sea Knight went down five days after a U.S. Army helicopter crashed in a hail of gunfire north of Baghdad, police and witnesses said. The U.S. command said two crew members were killed in that crash, and the al Qaeda-affiliated group the Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility.
Three other helicopters also have gone down since Jan. 20 killing a total of 19 Americans — 14 troops and five civilian security contractors.
The military has said all four were believed to have been shot down, raising new questions about whether Iraqi insurgents are using more sophisticated weapons or whether U.S. tactics need changing.
Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has acknowledged that insurgent ground fire in Iraq has been increasingly effective.
"I do not know whether or not it is the law of averages that caught up with us or if there's been a change in tactics, techniques and procedures on the part of the enemy," he told a congressional hearing on another subject Tuesday, adding the downings were being investigated.
The military also said a Marine was killed Tuesday in fighting in Anbar Province, an insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad.
At least 15 Iraqis also were killed in attacks nationwide Wednesday, including two employees of the government-funded Iraqi Media Network in Baghdad and a female government official who was shot to death while she was riding to work with her husband in the northern city of Mosul.
Al-Maliki acknowledged Tuesday the Baghdad security operation was off to a slow start, but he reassured Iraqis that security forces will live up to their responsibilities, telling his commanders they must not disappoint those "who stand beside us."
"The operations will unite us and we will take action soon, God willing, even though I believe we've been very late and this delay has started to give a negative message," al-Maliki said on state TV. "I hope that more efforts will be exerted and more speed exerted in carrying out and achieving all the preparations to start the operations."
The statement came as new checkpoints were erected and increased vehicle inspections and foot patrols were reported in some neighborhoods — providing the main evidence so far that U.S. and Iraqi forces were gearing up for a major neighborhood-to-neighborhood sweep to quell sectarian violence in the city of 6 million.