the bad news is, one us soldier was killed and another wounded when insurgents shot down a helicopter near the city of fallujah, reports the
knight-ridder news agency.
the attack on the two-person oh-58 kiowa from the army's 82nd airborne division was the third time in two months that enemy fire downed a u.s. helicopter in the area. military officials said they aren't certain what weapons were used in the latest attack.
kassim abbas, who runs a propane station just outside of fallujah, 35 miles west of baghdad, said he saw a missile launch from a grove of palm trees. it slammed into the helicopter, he said, splitting it into three pieces. a piece of debris landed in a field he owns.
the helicopter was hovering low at about noon as troops on the ground cleared a mine from the road, abbas said. the kiowa, joined by a second helicopter, was circling the area, apparently to provide security for the soldiers below.
but here's where things get confused. news 24 houston reports that insurgents posed as journalists to attack soldiers trying to guard the downed helicotper:
iraqi insurgents said to be posing as journalists have fired assault weapons and rocket-propelled grenades at american paratroopers.
u.s. military officials say the american troops were guarding a burning u.s. helicopter that had been shot down near fallujah.
there are no casualties reported in the ground attack, but one soldier died in the copter crash.
however, reuters reports that us troops held 3 iraqi's working for reuters at that spot:
american soldiers on friday detained three iraqis working for reuters as they covered the aftermath of a u.s. helicopter crash near the volatile town of falluja.
a reuters driver who was working with the three said they had earlier been fired on by u.s. troops as they filmed a checkpoint close to the site where a kiowa observation helicopter was shot down by guerrillas...
"we were fired on and we drove away at high speed," driver alaa noury said. he said reuters cameraman salem uraiby had been filming the checkpoint using a camera on a tripod, and had been wearing a flak jacket clearly marked with the word "press".
talk about the fog of war.
cross-posted on our own humble blog.