Six US soldiers were killed today when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed near Saddam Hussein's hometown in Iraq. US soldiers said it had been probably been shot down with a rocket-propelled grenade.
Apache attack helicopters were scouring the area around the crash site in Tikrit, 175 km north of Baghdad, hunting for militants who may have brought the Black Hawk down.
If it is confirmed that the helicopter was brought down by a grenade, it would be the third US helicopter shot down in two weeks.
The US military said two US soldiers had also been killed in the northern city of Mosul, one in a bomb attack yesterday and one in an ambush today.
"At approximately 9 a.m. (local time) this morning a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter went down," Major Josslyn Aberle of the 4th Infantry Division told reporters.
"At this stage we don't know if it was due to mechanical failure or another reason."
But soldiers in Tikrit said initial reports suggested the helicopter had been hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
A column of smoke rose from the crash site, and US troops sealed off the area. Soldiers at the base said they heard two explosions and ran outside to see the destroyed helicopter.
A military spokeswoman said the helicopter had burst into flames after crashing on the banks of the Tigris river.
The Black Hawk is the US Army's frontline utility helicopter, designed to carry 11 combat-ready assault troops, and is also used for medical evacuations.
Last Sunday, guerrillas shot down a US Chinook helicopter west of Baghdad as it carried troops on a rest and recreation break, killing 16 American soldiers in the deadliest single strike on U.S.-led forces since they invaded to oust Saddam.
On October 25th, guerrillas brought down a Black Hawk in Tikrit, hitting one of its engines with a rocket-propelled grenade. The helicopter made an emergency landing, and all five crew members escaped before it was engulfed in flames.
In the northern city of Mosul, gunmen with rocket-propelled grenades killed one soldier and wounded six others in an ambush on a US convoy today, a spokesman told reporters.
A soldier from the same division was killed in a roadside bomb blast on a highway near Mosul yesterday, the Army said. The attacks brought to at least 141 the number of US soldiers killed in action since Washington declared major combat over on May 1st - more than the 114 killed in March and April.
Near the restive town of Baquba, hundreds of US troops backed up by armoured vehicles raided a village today, and locals said the troops were hunting for Rashid Taan Kazim, a former regional chairman of Saddam's Baath Party who is number 49 on a US list of the 55 most-wanted Iraqi fugitives.
The raid ended without anybody on the most-wanted list being captured, US officers in Baquba said.