Commercial Helicopter Shot Down in Iraq, 11 Dead

Thu Apr 21, 2005

By Luke Baker

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi insurgents on Thursday shot down a Bulgarian commercial helicopter with 11 people on board, including six Americans, and then said they had captured and killed the sole survivor, a Bulgarian crew member. The Russian-built Mi-8 helicopter was hit by a rocket- propelled grenade as it flew over a deserted area north of Baghdad, Bulgarian officials and the U.S. military said. It was believed to be the first downing of a civilian aircraft in Iraq.

The Bulgarian company that owned the downed helicopter said that besides three Bulgarian crew there were six American passengers and two guards from an unspecified country on board.

"One of the crew members was captured alive and killed," the Islamic Army in Iraq said in an Internet statement.

The group posted on its Web site a video of what appeared to be burning remains of the helicopter. A man in blue overalls was shown lying in a grassy area and reaching out for help. "Give me a hand," he was heard saying.

Off-camera insurgents helped the man get up and then ordered him to walk away before shooting him repeatedly to the cry of "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest).

The video, whose authenticity could not be verified, also showed several charred bodies.

Thursday's attack came amid a rebound in guerrilla activity in the past two weeks, with more than 20 car bombings in Baghdad and an increase in ambushes, shootings and assassinations.

The violence threatens to overshadow attempts by Iraq's new leaders to form a government nearly three months after elections, amid growing tensions between Iraq's majority Shi'ite and once-dominant Sunni Muslim communities.

There had been hopes a new government would be announced on Thursday but disagreements surfaced again late on Wednesday between Shi'ites, who won the Jan. 30 election, and other factions, including interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's.

US PASSENGERS KILLED

Bulgarian company Heli Air told Reuters that three Bulgarian crew were killed when the helicopter was shot down, as well as six U.S. passengers and two guards from an unspecified country.

All on board were civilians, U.S. military officials said.

The Americans worked for Blackwater security consultants.

"This is a very sad day for the Blackwater family," said Blackwater USA President Gary Jackson. "We lost a number of our friends to attacks by terrorists in Iraq and our thoughts and prayers go out to their family members."

The company said that in a separate incident, another employee was killed when an improvised explosive device was detonated next to his armored personnel carrier near Ramadi.

Television footage showed a mangled and still-burning wreckage from the attack on the helicopter. Its bulk was destroyed, but rotor blades and what appeared to be two engines were visible. Two charred bodies could be seen near the site.

The Islamic Army in Iraq said in its Internet statement the crew member was killed to "avenge Muslims killed in cold blood in Falluja's mosques ... in front of the eyes of the world and on television screens without anyone protesting."

It seemed to be referring to widely broadcast images of a U.S. Marine killing a severely injured Iraqi in a mosque in the Iraqi city of Falluja last November after an offensive against insurgents there by U.S.-led forces.

Insurgents frequently fire on U.S. aircraft and have brought down several helicopters before. A U.S. Chinook transporter was shot down west of Baghdad in November 2003, killing at least 16 U.S. troops and wounding more than 20.

Ten British troops died on Jan. 30 when a C-130 Hercules transport plane came down north of Baghdad. The cause remains unclear but officials have said it may have been shot down.

The only civilian aircraft believed to have been struck was a DHL transport plane hit by a rocket as it departed Baghdad airport in November 2003. It managed to turn and land safely.

GOVERNMENT DELAY

The constant delays in a forming a government have heightened sectarian tensions, and also seem to have added fuel to the insurgency, which appeared to taper after the elections.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Hussain al-Shahristani, a senior member of the main Shi'ite alliance, said they did not think a deal would be sealed on Thursday, as previously hoped.

Allawi rejected in talks on Wednesday an offer to join the cabinet, sources involved in the negotiations said.

"The talks were going well, but the Shi'ites offered Allawi just two ministries, not the four that he wants, and he rejected the offer," one source said.

"There was also continued disagreement over what ministries the Sunnis should get. The question really is whether the Shi'ites want to create a government of national unity, or just a Shi'ite-Kurd government," he said.

Shortly after Wednesday's talks, Allawi narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. Al Qaeda in Iraq, a militant group led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on the Internet. The group has claimed responsibility for a series of bombings over the last month.

On Thursday, a roadside bomb hit a convoy carrying foreign security contractors on the road to Baghdad's airport, killing two people. Three foreign contractors -- an American, an Australian and a Canadian -- were killed on the same stretch of road on Wednesday, their employer confirmed on Thursday. And two U.S. soldiers were killed in the same vicinity on Tuesday.

The inability to secure the airport road, an essential link for military and civilian supplies, has come to symbolise the difficulty U.S. forces face in tackling the insurgency.

(Additional reporting by Ian Simpson, Lutfi Abu-Oun in Baghdad, Gareth Jones in Ankara and Michael Winfrey in Sofia)

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