BAGHDAD, Feb. 7, 2007
7 Dead In Iraq Chopper Crash
U.S. Officials Do Not Believe Crash Was Caused By Hostile Fire, Despite Insurgents' Claims
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This file photo shows a U.S. Marine Corps CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter in flight. (AP)
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An Iraqi Army soldier looks away as his colleague searches a motorist at a vehicle checkpoint in central Baghdad, Feb. 7, 2007. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
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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:
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