TIKRIT, Iraq, Nov. 7 -- A U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed Friday morning near the Tigris River in northern Iraq after it was apparently struck by ground fire, killing all six soldiers on board, military officials and witnesses said.
It would be the second U.S. military helicopter shot down by Iraqis in less than a week and provided another example of the growing sophistication and lethality of guerrillas, who have escalated their campaign along an arc that stretches north and west of Baghdad.
[In a separate incident Friday, a U.S. military convoy in Mosul was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms. One U.S. solider was killed and six were wounded, news services reported. The Associated Press reported that three others were injured later in the day by a roadside bomb in Mosul. A military statement released Friday also said a soldier was killed Thursday by a homemade bomb in the northern city.]
The helicopter was flying at 300 feet with another Black Hawk when it crashed at about 9:40 a.m (1:40 a.m. eastern time), just minutes before landing at Ironhorse Base, the headquarters of the 4th Infantry Division in Tikrit. It shattered into pieces, witnesses said, spraying charred and twisted wreckage over an area of about 100 yards. Fires burned for hours along the lush bank of the Tigris River, as armored vehicles and fire trucks raced toward the scene. At least two Apache helicopters circled overhead, and more than a dozen soldiers secured the site.
Two medical evacuation helicopters arrived within an hour, but military officials said there were no survivors.
"We heard the explosion, then we went into the street and we saw smoke and fire," said Abu Ahmed Ali, 31, a Tikrit resident whose house perches on the sandy bluffs overlooking the river valley. "The explosion shook our house."
The U.S. military said in a statement that it had yet to determine whether the crash was caused by mechanical failure or an attack. But witnesses said they heard a thud, then saw the helicopter point downward and begin to wobble uncontrollably. A trail of white smoke trailed from the rotor, and within moments, it crashed into a swath of the river bank overrun with bulrushes and bushes.
Lt. Col. Steve Russell, a battalion commander with the 4th Infantry Division in Tikrit who was at the scene, said it appeared the helicopter was downed by enemy fire. "It was something launched from the ground," he said.
Military officials in Tikrit, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they believed the Black Hawk was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade, a weapon of choice for guerrillas. The helicopter's engine and transmission were intact, they said, which indicates that it was not struck by a heat-seeking missile, which would lock on to those parts of the aircraft. The officials, citing witnesses, also said they saw no trail from the projectile, which would be consistent with a grenade rather than a surface-to-air missile.
On Sunday, an SA-7 surface-to-air missile brought down a CH-47 Chinook helicopter west of Baghdad, killing 16 soldiers headed for a short-term break. In that attack, the missile ignited an explosion and fire in midair before the helicopter plummeted to the ground. It was the deadliest single attack since U.S. forces invaded Iraq in March.
The 64-foot-long Black Hawk belonged to the 101st Airborne Division in the northern city of Mosul and was ferrying soldiers to the base in Tikrit. It was flying south along a route commonly used by helicopters, and the crash site was just miles from where another Black Hawk was shot down last month by a rocket-propelled grenade -- without fatalities.
"It's tragic to have something like this happen," said Capt. Jefferson Wolfe, a spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division. "This is the third helicopter shot down in a short amount of time. It's tragic to see people being killed like this."
Russell, the battalion commander, said he believed guerrillas were making an effort to target helicopters, which are a crucial line of transportation for a military forced to deploy across a country the size of California.
"We certainly see they are targeting helicopters. That's been firmly established in the last several weeks," he said. "What it shows is that when there appears to be a target of opportunity, those targets will be taken by the enemy."
In Tikrit, home to former president Saddam Hussein, residents celebrated the crash as they watched the fires burn from their homes overlooking the river. As in Fallujah on Sunday, few sympathized with U.S. forces they deem as occupiers. Many of them praised the attacks as the only way to end the U.S. presence.
"This is proof that the resistance can drive out the occupiers," said Hamid Jassim, a 45-year-old resident. "The occupiers have to sooner or later, and this is a kind of victory."
With the deaths reported Friday, U.S. combat fatalities totaled 148 since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1, compared with 114 dead in the offensive that brought down Hussein's government.
