The US military yesterday was investigating whether insurgent ground fire caused the crash of two US helicopters, killing 17 American soldiers, the worst single loss of US life since the start of the Iraq war.
Five soldiers were injured and one was missing after the Saturday crash.
The two Black Hawks, which belonged to the 101st Airborne Division, went down in residential neighborhoods of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city.
The spokesman for the 101st Airborne, Major Trey Cate, said the military was "trying to figure out what happened. ... We are going to do a thorough investigation because if this either involved ground fire or it was safety-related, then ... we're going to make sure we take precautions so it won't happen again."
The chief military spokesman in Baghdad, Colonel William Darley, said the cause of the crash "will be under intense investigation today."
A statement by the US command said one helicopter was carrying a quick reaction force and the other ferried soldiers on a transport mission in northern Iraq. Cate said the quick-response team was on its way to investigate a shooting incident in which a US soldier was injured.
The statement did not give the cause of the crash.
"The cause of the incidents are under investigation," the statement said.
An Iraqi policeman in Mosul, however, said at least one of the Black Hawks was hit by ground fire.
"They hit it with a missile," said policeman Saddam Abdel Sattar. "I was in the army, I know these things."
Another witness, Yousra Khedr said she saw one helicopter above her house before hearing the sound of a loud boom.
"I saw the sky light up, it was like thunder and lightning," she said, adding that after the initial boom she heard gunfire in the area but could not say where it came from.
One soldier at the scene said he heard that one of the helicopters was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade before it crashed. A US military spokesman said such reports were "at best speculative."
Another witness said he heard gunfire on the ground before the crash.
"The Black Hawks were in the air and there was shooting [on the ground]. It was dark and one slammed into the other," said an Iraqi Civil Defense Corps soldier who identified himself only as Mahmoud.
By yesterday morning, soldiers were busy clearing the rubble at the two crash sites. Two cranes were being towed in to help the clean up operation.
Cate said the military was still removing bodies of soldiers from the site. He said it would take an additional seven or eight hours to clear the wreckage.
According to Cate, one helicopter had 12 soldiers on board; seven were killed and five injured. The other had 10 aboard; all were killed.
Prior to the crash, the US military's deadliest incident was the downing of a Chinook transport helicopter on Nov. 2 that killed 16 soldiers. A Black Hawk was also shot down on Nov. 7, killing all six soldiers on board.
There were days early in the war in which more soldiers died, but they were spread over several attacks or accidents.
Violence in the area continued yesterday. A roadside bomb exploded in Mosul, hitting an Iraqi minibus, slightly injuring four people, Iraqi police said. There were no US troops in the area of the blast.
In Borsa, a neighborhood where one of the helicopters crashed, the US military ordered people over a loudspeaker to "go back home or we will use force against you."
The crash put the number of American casualties since the March invasion at 417.
The crash occurred about 6:30pm after sundown, but both pilots were qualified for limited visibility flying, the military said.
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