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Jan. 8, 2006

Black Hawk Crash Kills 12

Also, Five U.S. Marines Are Killed In Separate Attacks

By Joel Roberts
  • Play CBS Video Video American Troops Killed In Iraq

    The battle for Iraq took a deadly turn for U.S. forces this weekend. Twelve Americans died in a Black Hawk helicopter crash and five Marines died in separate attacks. CBS News' Kelly Cobiella reports.

  • Video Violent Day In Iraq

    On one of the deadliest days in Iraq in months, suicide bombers and insurgent gunmen killed at least 125 Iraqis, and five Americans died in a roadside bombing. Kelly Cobiella reports.

  • Video Carnage In Iraq

    It has been an extremely deadly day in Iraq. At least 130 people have been killed, including five U.S. soldiers. Claudia Coffey reports.

    • U.S. soldiers of the 501 Special Troops Battalion inspect an abandoned house in a rural area on the outskirts of the northern city of Tikrit, January 2, 2006. Photo

      U.S. soldiers of the 501 Special Troops Battalion inspect an abandoned house in a rural area on the outskirts of the northern city of Tikrit, January 2, 2006.  (Getty Images/Filippo Monteforte)

    • Senior party member of the Sunni Arab Iraqi Accordance Front, Adnan al-Dulaimi, left, listens to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani during a meeting at the Presidential Building, Sunday, Jan. 8, 2006. Photo

      Senior party member of the Sunni Arab Iraqi Accordance Front, Adnan al-Dulaimi, left, listens to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani during a meeting at the Presidential Building, Sunday, Jan. 8, 2006.  (AP)

    • A 1999 File photo of a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, similar to the one that crashed in Iraq Saturday. Photo

      A 1999 File photo of a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, similar to the one that crashed in Iraq Saturday.  (AP)

    • Iraqi police and soldiers remove the charred corpse of a suicide car bomber, Friday, Jan. 6, 2006, in central Baghdad, Iraq. Photo

      Iraqi police and soldiers remove the charred corpse of a suicide car bomber, Friday, Jan. 6, 2006, in central Baghdad, Iraq.  (AP)

    • Al Qaeda's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, is seen in this image made from videotape posted on Internet Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2005. Photo

      Al Qaeda's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, is seen in this image made from videotape posted on Internet Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2005.  (AP /APTN)

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(CBS/AP)  A U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter went down in northern Iraq, killing all 12 Americans believed to be aboard in the deadliest crash in nearly a year, while five U.S. Marines died in weekend attacks, the military said Sunday.

The latest deaths followed an especially bloody week in which about 200 Iraqis and a dozen U.S. troops were killed, reports CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella. Iraqi politicians, meanwhile, claimed headway in forming a stable coalition government following the Dec. 15 elections, whose final results may be released this week, but a definite up tick in insurgent violence has plagued the new year, Cobiella reports.

U.S. military officials said the UH-60 Black Hawk crashed just before midnight Saturday about seven miles east of Tal Afar, a northern city near the Syrian border that has seen heavy fighting with insurgents.

"All (those killed) are believed to be U.S. citizens," military spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said.

He did not say what caused the crash, but bad weather has wracked most of Iraq.

In other developments:

  • Three Marines were killed Sunday by small arms attacks in Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, the military said. Two other Marines were killed Saturday by roadside bombs in separate incidents, the military said. With the latest Marine deaths, at least 2,199 members of the U.S. military have died since the war started in 2003, according to an Associated Press count. That toll did not include those killed aboard the Black Hawk.

  • In other violence Sunday, five people died in separate attacks in Baghdad, including a policeman killed by a suicide car bomber targeting an Interior Ministry patrol. Seven others were wounded.

  • A French engineer abducted Dec. 5 apparently was dumped on a Baghdad street by his fleeing captors and recovered by U.S. troops, who turned him turned over to the French Embassy on Sunday, according to Iraqi police and the French Foreign Ministry in Paris. Bernard Planche, 52, was kidnapped on his way to work at a water plant. Insurgents have kidnapped more than 250 foreigners in the past two years, aiming to force U.S.-led troops to leave Iraq or prevent Arab nations from strengthening their ties with Baghdad.

    Continued



    ©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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