World

9 U.S. Deaths In Chopper Crash

January 9, 2004 / 5:03 AM EST / CBS/AP

Nine soldiers died when a U.S. helicopter went down near a stronghold of the anti-American insurgency Thursday, as hundreds of angry Iraqis waited for a much-publicized release of coalition detainees that did not occur by late afternoon.

The Black Hawk helicopter made an "emergency landing" near the town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, a military spokeswoman said. The reason for the emergency was not immediately clear.

The aircraft was on a medical evacuation mission, but it was not clear if any patients were on board, a U.S. military official said on condition of anonymity.

A witness said the helicopter, which bore red crosses, was hit in the tail by a rocket.

In other developments:

A mortar attack Wednesday on a U.S. base killed one soldier and wounded 33 soldiers and one civilian, a U.S. military spokeswoman said.

Officials said an Air Force C-5 transport plane with 63 passengers and crew aboard made an emergency landing at Baghdad International Airport, and a senior official at the Pentagon said the plane was hit by hostile fire.

Residents foiled an attack on Baghdad's police headquarters after they chased away men preparing to launch rockets near a soccer stadium, according to Maj. Roger Hedgepeth of the 18th Military Police Brigade. He said police seized 11 rockets.

Iraqi leaders preparing for the country's transition to self-rule are putting new pressure on the United Nations to return international staff to the country and take a leading role as U.S. occupation authorities turn over power.

Private militias run by rival Shiite Muslim groups pose a dilemma to U.S. commanders: officials consider them a threat to long-term public order, but some have stepped in to fill a void created by the collapse of Saddam's regime and the difficulties faced by the U.S. military in maintaining order nationwide.

The U.S. has pulled a 400-member weapons hunting team from Iraq, The New York Times reports, a possible sign that the Bush administration is losing confidence that it will find the illegal weapons of mass destruction that were a major reason for the war. Other weapons-hunting teams remain on the ground.

U.S. troops said they destroyed a home in Fallujah, the center of the anti-American insurgency west of Baghdad, where enraged neighbors said a married couple was killed and their five children were orphaned.

The 82nd Airborne Division said its paratroopers acted after receiving "two rounds of indirect fire" around 9 p.m. Tuesday.

The neighbors insisted the couple was innocent in an attack on the troops that led them to shell the house.

Civilian deaths in the counterinsurgency campaign have enraged many Iraqis at a time when the U.S.-led coalition is trying to win popular support.

The release of detainees was apparently intended to mollify frustrated Iraqis.

U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer had said 506 of some 12,800 detainees would be freed in a goodwill gesture from the jail, where Saddam Hussein's regime once tortured political opponents. The first 100 were to be released Thursday.

At Abu Ghraib, hundreds of people waited in frustration for hours, hoping relatives would be among the first detainees that coalition officials said would be freed under the much-publicized amnesty.

However, U.S. guards said they had no orders to release anyone, and an Iraqi lawyer, Mohammed al-Tamimi, expressed doubt anyone would be freed Thursday.

Coalition spokesman Dan Senor said officials were waiting for community and tribal leaders to guarantee the good conduct of those to be given their freedom.

"He (Bremer) said that approximately 100 would be ready to be released today. They are ready," but their release was being held up as officials waited for guarantors to step forward, Senor said.

"Liars! Liars! They won't let them out!" a woman screamed as she emerged from the prison. Others railed against "unjust arrests" among the thousands of people rounded up by U.S. and coalition troops and held without detention or charge.

There was more confusion when three truckloads of prisoners were driven out of the prison, and those waiting rushed out into the street after them, stopping traffic on a busy highway. Drivers got out of their cars and people hugged and kissed in joy.

But a U.S. official said that was a routine release that had nothing to do with the amnesty.

"This has nothing to do with Bremer's announcement," Lt. Col. Roy Shere said of the much-publicized amnesty announcement Wednesday by L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq.

Shere, a spokesman for the 800th Military Police Brigade which operates prisons in Iraq, said the unit had not received any order to release prisoners under the amnesty. "Until we get some information that says 'release these prisoners,' they are staying put," he said.

Bremer's announcement appeared to be a conciliatory gesture as the United States seeks to win goodwill among Iraqis. However, among those gathered at the prison, the delay and confusion over the release were having the opposite effect.

"I don't trust the Americans. They are making more enemies for themselves now by arresting innocent people," said Jassin Rasheed, whose brother Omar was detained two months ago.

The Black Hawk downing was only the latest deadly incident involving U.S. helicopters.

A U.S. helicopter crashed Jan. 2 in the same area, killing one soldier, and military officials said it almost certainly was shot down by rebels.

In the deadliest single attack on U.S. forces since the Iraq invasion began in March, 17 soldiers were killed on Nov. 15 when two Black Hawk helicopters collided above Mosul in what the military called a likely grenade attack.

The deaths Thursday brought to at least 495 the number of Americans killed in Iraq from hostile and non-hostile causes since the start of the war in March, according to the U.S. Central Command and the Department of Defense.