BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Guerrillas shot down a Bulgarian commercial helicopter in Iraq on Thursday, killing all 11 on board including six Americans, the aircraft's Bulgarian owner said.
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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.
A militant group said it had shot down the helicopter.
"The Islamic Army in Iraq claims responsibility for bringing down a ... cargo aircraft and killing all those on board," said the short posting on a Web site often used by Iraqi rebels, adding a full statement and video would follow.
The authenticity of the brief statement could not be verified but it was posted by a user who often releases statements from the group.
The attack came amid a surge in violence across the country which threatens to overshadow attempts by Iraq's new leaders to form a government nearly three months after elections.
Hopes that a government would be announced on Thursday were dashed late on Wednesday when last-minute disagreements emerged between Shi'ites, who won the Jan. 30 election, and other factions, including interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's.
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. Officials originally reported nine people had died.
All on board were civilians, U.S. military officials said.
Television footage received by Reuters showed a mangled and still-burning wreckage. The bulk of the aircraft was destroyed, but rotor blades and what appeared to be two engines were visible. Two charred bodies could be seen near the site.
Insurgents frequently fire on U.S. aircraft in Iraq 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.
VIOLENCE ON INCREASE
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 eclipse efforts by elected leaders to form a government, amid growing tensions between Iraq's majority Shi'ite and once-dominant Sunni Muslim communities.
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.
Disputes surfaced on Wednesday when Allawi rejected 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, referring to ministries offered to Allawi's political grouping.
"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.
The constant delays have heightened sectarian tensions, and also seem to have added fuel to the insurgency, which appeared to taper in the first weeks after January's elections.
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 symbolize the difficulty U.S. forces have faced in tackling the insurgency.
(Additional reporting by Ian Simpson, Lutfi Abu-Oun in Baghdad, Gareth Jones in Ankara and Michael Winfrey in Sofia
Reuters Photo
AFP
Slideshow: Iraq
Latest headlines:
· Missile Fire Downs Iraq Chopper; 11 Dead
AP - 6 minutes ago
· Fatal Helicopter Crashes in Iraq War
AP - 13 minutes ago
· Senate Set to OK $81B War Spending Bill
AP - 23 minutes ago
Special Coverage
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.
A militant group said it had shot down the helicopter.
"The Islamic Army in Iraq claims responsibility for bringing down a ... cargo aircraft and killing all those on board," said the short posting on a Web site often used by Iraqi rebels, adding a full statement and video would follow.
The authenticity of the brief statement could not be verified but it was posted by a user who often releases statements from the group.
The attack came amid a surge in violence across the country which threatens to overshadow attempts by Iraq's new leaders to form a government nearly three months after elections.
Hopes that a government would be announced on Thursday were dashed late on Wednesday when last-minute disagreements emerged between Shi'ites, who won the Jan. 30 election, and other factions, including interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's.
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. Officials originally reported nine people had died.
All on board were civilians, U.S. military officials said.
Television footage received by Reuters showed a mangled and still-burning wreckage. The bulk of the aircraft was destroyed, but rotor blades and what appeared to be two engines were visible. Two charred bodies could be seen near the site.
Insurgents frequently fire on U.S. aircraft in Iraq 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.
VIOLENCE ON INCREASE
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 eclipse efforts by elected leaders to form a government, amid growing tensions between Iraq's majority Shi'ite and once-dominant Sunni Muslim communities.
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.
Disputes surfaced on Wednesday when Allawi rejected 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, referring to ministries offered to Allawi's political grouping.
"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.
The constant delays have heightened sectarian tensions, and also seem to have added fuel to the insurgency, which appeared to taper in the first weeks after January's elections.
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 symbolize the difficulty U.S. forces have faced in tackling the insurgency.
(Additional reporting by Ian Simpson, Lutfi Abu-Oun in Baghdad, Gareth Jones in Ankara and Michael Winfrey in Sofia
