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20 U.S. armed forces die in Iraq

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published January 21, 2007

BAGHDAD - At least 20 American service members were killed in military operations Saturday in Iraq, including 13 who died in a helicopter crash and five who were killed in an attack by militia fighters in Karbala, military officials said. It was the deadliest day for U.S. forces in two years.

Iraqi officials in the area said the helicopter had been shot down, though there was no immediate confirmation from American officials.

Saturday's toll also was the third-highest of any single day since the war began in March 2003, eclipsed only by 37 U.S. deaths on Jan. 26, 2005, and 28 on the third day of the U.S. invasion. U.S. authorities on Saturday also announced two American combat deaths from Friday.

The heavy toll comes at a crucial time of rising congressional opposition to President Bush's decision to dispatch 21,500 additional soldiers to the conflict to try to curb sectarian slaughter.

The military gave little information on the crash of the Army Black Hawk helicopter during good weather in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. U.S. and Iraqi forces have been battling Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias for months in the province, around the city of Baqubah.

Lt. Col. Josslyn Aberle, a U.S. spokeswoman, said the cause of the crash had not been determined. Navy Capt. Frank Pascual, a member of a U.S. media relations team in the United Arab Emirates, told Al-Arabiya television that the helicopter was believed to have had technical troubles before going down.

An Interior Ministry official and the police in Diyala province said the helicopter was shot down about 4 p.m. by insurgents who fired missiles, or possibly grenades, from at least two locations. It crashed near Tarrafa Village, they said, over a rural area near the Diyala River.

The U.S. military said debris had been immediately surrounded and secured. Several hours after the crash, soldiers were still combing through the wreckage.

Officials declined to release the names of the service members pending notification of families.

In Karbala, five U.S. soldiers were killed Saturday night when militia fighters attacked a provincial headquarters in the Shiite Muslim holy city, the military said in a statement.

The statement said "an illegally armed militia group" attacked the building with grenades, small arms and "indirect fire," which usually means mortars or rockets. The statement said three soldiers were wounded repelling the attack.

"A meeting was taking place at the time of the attack to ensure the security of Shiite pilgrims participating in the Ashura commemorations," said a statement from Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, deputy commander of the Multi-National Division-Baghdad.

Karbala is 50 miles south of Baghdad and thousands of Shiite pilgrims are flocking to the city to mark the 10-day Ashura festival commemorating the death of one of Shiite Islam's most sacred saints, Imam Hussein, grandson of the prophet Mohammed.

Brooks said Iraqi officials and security forces as well as U.S. troops were present, but his statement did not mention other casualties from the attack.

Earlier, Karbala Gov. Akeel al-Khazaali had reported that U.S. troops raided the provincial headquarters looking for wanted men but left with no prisoners. Brooks said that report was incorrect.

The general did not identify any group suspected of staging the attack, but residents reached by telephone had reported seeing military helicopters flying over the local headquarters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, which has been accused of playing a big role in sectarian killings, has been hit repeatedly in recent weeks by operations in which key commanders have been captured or killed by U.S. and Iraqi troops.

Two other U.S. service members also died Saturday. Roadside bombs killed a U.S. soldier in the capital and one in Nineveh province north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

The military also announced that combat Friday had killed a soldier in Nineveh province and a Marine in Anbar province, a Sunni insurgent stronghold west of the capital.

Police reported at least 16 Iraqis were slain in attacks Saturday. In addition, officials said 29 bodies were found in Baghdad and three in the northern city of Mosul.

The helicopter crash was the fourth deadliest crash since the start of the war. The worst crash occurred on the war's deadliest day, Jan. 26, 2005, when a Marine transport helicopter crashed during a sandstorm in Iraq's western desert, killing 30 Marines and a sailor. On the same day, six other U.S. forces died in combat for a total of 37 deaths.

The second-highest daily toll was on March 23, 2003, when 28 service members were killed as American forces were pushing toward Baghdad on the third day of the U.S.-led invasion.

Meanwhile, the first reinforcements of U.S. troops under the new Bush strategy have started to flow into the Baghdad region. A brigade of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, part of the buildup, has arrived in Baghdad and will be ready to join the fresh drive to quell sectarian violence in the capital by the first of the month, the American military said.

The 2nd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne consists of about 3,200 soldiers.

In an operation linked to sectarian violence Saturday, U.S. helicopters dropped Iraqi police commandos into the dangerous Dora neighborhood of south Baghdad to stage a raid on the Omar Brigade, an al-Qaida-linked Sunni militant group, Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf said.

Khalaf said 15 insurgents were killed and five were captured. He blamed the Sunni gunmen for a series of kidnappings and killings.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, Iraqi police and hospital officials said a joint U.S.-Iraqi force searched a hospital in the volatile Sunni-dominated western neighborhood of Yarmouk. Dr. Haqi Ismail, the hospital manager, said they were looking for someone.

[Last modified January 21, 2007, 01:26:36]