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Reuters journalist detained after helicopter shot down { January 3 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/01/03/MNGP642MMT1.DTLhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/01/03/MNGP642MMT1.DTL
U.S. helicopter shot down
Soldier killed in crash near restive town; 2nd dies when truck flips
Laura King, Los Angeles Times
Saturday, January 3, 2004
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Baghdad -- A U.S. Army helicopter was shot down Friday near the volatile Sunni Muslim town of Fallujah, leaving one American soldier dead and another injured.
A second U.S. soldier was killed when a military truck flipped over near the Baghdad airport, the Army reported. Six other soldiers were hurt in the truck crash, which military officials said was under investigation.
The downing of American helicopters -- either from mechanical problems or hostile fire -- contributed to a spike in U.S. fatalities in recent months. In the most lethal incident of the war, two Black Hawk helicopters collided over the northern city of Mosul in November after coming under fire, killing 17 soldiers.
American troops sealed off the site of Friday's crash, a dusty plantation near the Euphrates River, then swarmed over the area, carrying out house-to- house searches and blocking off streets as assault helicopters circled overhead.
Fallujah, a conservative, tribal-dominated community about 35 miles west of Baghdad, has been a focal point of the anti-American insurgency, which continues to simmer despite the Dec. 13 capture of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Witnesses said they saw a projectile strike the helicopter about 1 p.m. before the aircraft spiraled toward the ground.
"We saw a missile hit it, and we could see that the soldiers inside were trapped," said Hussein Dari, a 25-year-old laborer in Fallujah. "It was burning, and smoke was coming from it."
U.S. military officials said later that, based on reports from the field, they believed that ground fire had downed the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior.
"They are fairly convinced that it was enemy fire," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told reporters in Baghdad.
Kimmitt said that after the helicopter crash-landed, paratroopers guarding the site encountered assailants wearing black vests emblazoned with the word "Press." But the Reuters news agency reported that U.S. troops had fired at its journalists at the scene and later detained three.
Reuters said Iraqi cameraman Salem Uraiby had been filming the crash scene from a checkpoint using a camera on a tripod while wearing a flak jacket marked "press."
"We were fired on, and we drove away at high speed," driver Alaa Noury said. He said a second car driven by another Iraqi journalist had been fired upon in the same incident. One of the cars remained in Fallujah, Reuters said.
Several local Iraqi journalists who approached the crash site said subsequently they too had been picked up for questioning by the Americans.
Elsewhere in the restive area, an American military convoy came under attack near the town of Ramadi with small-arms fire, together with what witnesses described as either a roadside bomb or rockets fired by insurgents.
A 5,000-gallon oil tanker in the convoy was set ablaze, sending huge clouds of black smoke billowing skyward. Three American soldiers were injured in the attack, suffering burns and shrapnel wounds, according to the Army.
American officials say in the wake of Hussein's capture, they have been making steady progress in catching loyalists of the former regime. On Friday, they reported the arrest a day earlier of a man known as Abu Mohammed, who was believed to have served as a conduit for weapons and funds.
His interrogation led to several additional arrests and the seizure of an arms cache, they said.
American tactics have provoked angry reactions in some quarters. A near- riot broke out outside a Baghdad mosque Friday, the Muslim Sabbath, after an overnight raid by U.S. troops.
Kimmitt said the American forces had seized weapons and ammunition and made 32 arrests. He described the detainees as Arabs from outside Iraq. U.S. officials believe that foreign fighters play a significant role in the insurgency.
In Mosul, police reported the latest in what appear to be a series of vigilante-style revenge killings of officials placed in positions of authority by Hussein.
Late Friday, explosions boomed in Baghdad from U.S. military bombing on the southern edge of the capital. A spokesman said the bombing was part of Operation Iron Grip, a campaign to target insurgents who have launched rockets and mortar shells.
Residents of the Doura neighborhood said it appeared U.S. fire was targeting fields there. Bordered by date palm farms, Doura includes the homes of former officials of Hussein's government and a palace now used as a U.S. military base.
Earlier Friday, people protested outside Baghdad's Ibn Taymiyyah mosque after U.S. soldiers and Iraqi defense force officers raided the mosque overnight.
Kimmitt said troops had seized explosives, guns and ammunition and arrested 32 people believed "based on their dialect'' to be non-Iraqi Arabs. The military says foreign Islamic militants opposed to the occupation have infiltrated through Iraq's borders.
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Death toll
The latest identification, reported by the Department of Defense:
-- Army Spc. Justin W. Pollard, 21, Foothill Ranch (Orange County); died Tuesday in a non-combat-related incident in Baghdad; assigned to 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colo.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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