US helicopter down in Iraq, more violence seen
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. helicopter came down near Baghdad on Monday in what appeared to be the second shooting down of an aircraft in three days, and rebel violence is expected to escalate as Iraq's election results are confirmed.
Local witnesses said the aircraft went down after coming under rocket fire in the small town of Mishahda just north of the capital. The U.S. military confirmed that the helicopter went down but was still investigating the cause.
A military spokesman had no comment on the fate of the crew.
An Iraqi insurgent group said it had shot down the U.S. helicopter.
U.S. commanders have warned of a possible increase in violence once the results of last month's parliamentary election are finally announced, probably this week.
"We expect a hike in attacks in the next days because the multinational forces have destroyed many al Qaeda positions," Brigadier General Donald Alston, chief spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, told reporters on Sunday.
Iraq's electoral commission was scheduled to announce results of its investigation into allegations of vote fraud on Monday.
It is expected to annul just a small percentage of ballots, keeping final results in line with preliminary tallies that drew allegations of complaints from Sunnis hoping to ease Shi'ite domination of power.
Sunni rebels rarely challenge U.S. air power from the ground but their suicide and roadside bombs have killed thousands of Iraqi and U.S. forces and civilians in a campaign designed to topple the Shi'ite-led government.
Guerrillas in northern Iraq apparently shot down an armed U.S. reconnaissance helicopter on Friday, killing its two pilots. A week earlier, all 12 people aboard were killed when a Black Hawk helicopter went down close to the nearby northern city of Tal Afar, though that has so far been blamed on weather.
A militant group which has claimed a number of attacks in recent months said it had brought down the helicopter which crashed on Monday.
"Your brothers in one of the units of the Salaheddin al-Ayubi Brigades ... shot down an Apache helicopter in the Mishahda area with missiles," said an Internet statement attributed to the group.
The statement's authenticity could not be verified. It was posted on a main Web site often used by insurgents.
Only three small helicopters were confirmed as being shot down last year, although the causes of some other fatal crashes have not been made public. A British transport plane was brought down a year ago, killing all 10 aboard.
ELECTION
The U.S. government hopes that a consensus government will emerge after a parliamentary election on December 15 that can quell violence and allow U.S. troops to begin withdrawing this year.
The pullout issue will gain importance as Americans review progress in Iraq ahead of mid-term U.S. elections in November.
Stability is nowhere in sight.
Once dominant minority Sunnis are bitterly disappointed over continued Shi'ite strength and insurgents including Saddam Hussein's supporters, other nationalist groups and Islamist militants show no signs of laying down their arms.
Saddam, who still inspires insurgents, is scheduled to return to take the stand again on January 24 in the eighth day of his trial for crimes against humanity.
But the already turbulent trial, which opened in October, has been thrown into further disarray after the chief judge submitted his resignation in protest over government interference in the court's procedures.
A spokesman for the court said Judge Rizgar Amin is standing by his resignation and efforts by Iraqi officials to dissuade him were not expected to reach a conclusion on Monday.
mir gefällt zwar nicht wie sich die Amis immer wichtig machen aber es war ja trotzdem ein Heli der runtergeholt wurde
Lg Peter
