An American helicopter was shot down on Monday north of Baghdad. 
According to eyewitnesses, a rocket had apparently been fired at the craft, causing it to crash.
The incident reportedly occurred over the town of Mishahda, according to witnesses.
The town's residents reported that US soldiers had surrounded the site of the crash.
On Friday, another American helicopter was shot down in the city of Mosul, killing both pilots on board.
Also on Monday, a car bomb detonated Monday next to a police convoy, killing a 6-year-old child and five police officers, a police operations center and hospital said. The blast took placein Muqdadiya, about 60 miles north of the capital. The explosion also injured 16 civilians and three policemen.
Al Qaeda announces establishment of umbrella group to counter US operation in Iraq
On Sunday, a statement posted on the internet announced that Al Qaeda operatives in Iraq had established an umbrella group to coordinate the resistance against American occupation forces and the US-backed government in Iraq.
The statement, posted by the "Mujahideen Council" said that the group would fight the "Crusaders and their rejectionist and secularist followers who have seized Baghdad."
It added, "The council also calls on Muslims in Iraq and across the world to join the jihad in Iraq to fight for the victory of religion and to defend the oppressed."
500 Iraqi prisoners freed by US
US military authorities announced that more than 500 Iraqi prisoners who had been held without charge, including two journalists, had been freed from US custody after being cleared of any suspicions of involvement in "terror-related" incidents.
The announcement came on Sunday, after the prisoners had been held for several months at various prisons throughout Iraq, including the infamous Abu Ghraib prison outside of the Iraqi capital, Camp Suse near the town of Sulaimaniyah, and Camp Bucca in southern Iraq.
According to an Iraqi spokesman, "The US military freed all the prisoners this morning," reported Reuters.
Amongst those released was Majed Hameed, a reporter for the Al Arabiya news network, and Ali Al Mashhadani, a photographer and cameraman for Reuters.
Some 12,000 Iraqis prisoners remain under American custody throughout Iraq.
Meanwhile on Sunday, US military sources revealed that four Iraqi civilians and one American soldier were killed in a car accident in the town Mosul on Sunday.
Gunmen also killed five Iraqi civilians, two police and a former Iraqi army officer on Sunday.
© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
