A US Apache helicopter was seen burning on the ground outside Fallujah on Tuesday, and witnesses said it was hit by a rocket from the ground.
The military copter was forced to land, and three crew members were injured. One Marine in a rescue squad was killed by Iraqi fighters who attacked with mortars, small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, according to the military.
The fighters said they downed the craft with a rocket-propelled grenade.
The helicopter was in flames on the ground some 20 kilometers east of Fallujah near the village of Zawbaa, according to The AP.
US troops who converged on the site were reportedly attacked by Iraqi fighters. The team that extracted the Marine crew came under mortar fire and was ambushed as it pulled back by Iraqi resistance fighters using small weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.
Meanwhile, Iraqi fighters attacked a large convoy of US troops heading toward Najaf with gunfire and roadside bombs, killing one soldier and injuring two others and an American civilian contractor, officers in the convoy said Tuesday.
The 80-vehicle convoy was hit late Monday, when a volley of fire erupted north of the city. A roadside bomb hit a truck. The convoy accelerated through the ambush and continued on its way toward Najaf, located some 160 kilometers south of Baghdad. The large US force was coming from the north to deploy at Najaf. (Albawaba.com)
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