5 Americans Killed in Iraq Copter Crash

People place their relative who was killed in Monday's twin car bombing at Bab al-Sharqi market, in a coffin, Tuesday Jan. 23, 2007, at the Imam Ali hospital yard in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City, inl Baghdad, Iraq. Police said at least 88 people were killed and 168 wounded in the bombings. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim) (Karim Kadim - AP)

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A U.S. security company helicopter crashed Tuesday as it flew over a dangerous Sunni neighborhood in the central Baghdad where insurgents and Iraqi security troops fought a prolonged gunbattle, and a U.S. official said five American civilians on board were killed.

A senior Iraqi military official said the aircraft was shot down, but this was disputed by a U.S. military official in Washington. The Iraqi said the helicopter was hit by a machine gunner over the Fadhil neighborhood on the east side of the Tigris River, while the U.S. official said there was no indication in initial reports that the aircraft, owned by Blackwater USA, had been shot down. The Americans said they did not know what caused the aircraft to crash.

A U.S. official in Baghdad also said there was no information to substantiate reports that the bodies had been shot. All the officials demanded anonymity because the details had not been made public.

Blackwater USA confirmed that five Americans employed by the North Carolina-based company as security professionals were killed. The statement from spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell did not provide identities or any details of the fighting.

The New York Times reported the helicopter went down as it came under attack and plummeted to the pavement through a tangle of electrical wires, but it was unclear if the crash resulted from gunfire, the wires or an effort to land.

Quoting unnamed American officials, the newspaper said the helicopter's four-man crew was killed along with a gunner on a second Blackwater helicopter. It said one military official said that at least four of the victims had suffered gunshot wounds to the head, raising the prospect that some of them had been shot on the ground.

Witnesses in the Fadhil neighborhood told The Associated Press that they saw the helicopter go down after gunmen on the ground opened fire, possibly striking pilot or co-pilot or both. Accounts varied, but all were consistent that at least one person operating the aircraft had been shot and badly hurt before the crash.

The helicopter was believed to have been flying escort above a VIP convoy on the ground as it headed away from the heavily fortified Green Zone to an undisclosed destination.

A report in the Washington Post, also citing unnamed U.S. officials, said one of the Blackwater victims was killed as he traveled with the convoy on the ground.

The Sunni insurgent groups the Islamic Army in Iraq and the Ansar al-Sunnah Army claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the Washington-based SITE Institute, which monitors terrorism Web sites. The authenticity of the claims could not be independently confirmed.

In a report on its Web site, SITE said Ansar also published photos of what it said were the U.S. Embassy badge, credit cards and dog tags of one of the casualties in the attack.

Among the dead was Arthur Laguna, a 52-year-old pilot for Blackwater who previously served in the Army and the California National Guard, his mother, Lydia Laguna, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Tuesday night.