IRAQ: FIVE U.S. SOLDIERS ARE WOUNDED IN ROCKET ATTACK ON THEIR BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER NEAR TIKRIT

Record ID: 355554

  • Title: IRAQ: FIVE U.S. SOLDIERS ARE WOUNDED IN ROCKET ATTACK ON THEIR BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER NEAR TIKRIT
  • Date: 25th October 2003
  • Summary: (EU) NEAR TIKRIT, IRAQ (OCTOBER 25, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV: BLACK HAWK CIRCLING AROUND CRASH SITE AND LANDING 0.20 2. SCU: SOLDIERS LISTENING TO RADIO (AUDIO ON RADIO SAYING HAS BEEN SHOT) 0.24 3. LV: BLACK HAWK IN FLAMES 0.30 4. ANOTHER BLACK HAWK WITH WOUNDED TAKING OFF 0.34 5. ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIER (APC) RUSHING TO C
  • Embargoed: 9th November 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEAR TIKRIT, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA8RQA28TWV5UCTHEX34D418YP8
  • Story Text: Five U.S. soldiers were wounded when their
    helicopter crashed and came under attack from
    rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) .


    Five U.S. soldiers were wounded in Iraq on Saturday
    (October 25) in a rocket attack on a Black Hawk helicopter
    near Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit.

    As the aircraft blazed on the ground within sight of a
    major U.S. base, soldiers told a Reuters photographer at
    the scene that a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) hit it in
    the air. But a U.S. military spokeswoman in Baghdad said it
    was unclear what brought it down, only that RPGs were fired
    on the wreck.

    "After the aircraft was on the ground, it was attacked
    with RPGs," she said, saying it was "presently not known"
    what brought the Black Hawk down. The five wounded were
    evacuated.

    Reuters photographer Damir Sagolj heard a loud bang
    before the helicopter fell from the sky.

    Soldiers said they saw the helicopter flying alongside
    a second Black Hawk when it came down. The second aircraft
    landed and rescued at least one crew member, they added.

    Rocket attacks are a daily fact of life for the U.S.

    forces on the ground. But there has been only one report of
    hostile fire bringing down aircraft since major combat
    ended in April, despite American fears about the
    availability of shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles in
    Iraq.

    U.S. Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, one of
    the architects of Washington's campaign against Saddam, had
    visited Tikrit hours earlier, to meet troops engaged in one
    of the main hotspots of Iraqi resistance to the occupation
    forces.

    Lying 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, Tikrit lies
    near the apex of the "Sunni Triangle" north and west of the
    capital where many of Saddam's fellow Sunni Muslims,
    fearful of power going to the Shi'ite majority, have been
    less than welcoming.

    The Black Hawk is the U.S. Army's front-line utility
    helicopter, designed to carry 11 combat-ready assault
    troops and is also used for medical evacuations.



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