Iraq could parade more 'humiliated' POWs

2003-03-24 20:49

Hindiya - Iraq claimed it shot down two US Apache helicopters on Monday and boasted it could again parade "captured and humiliated" American troops on state television.

An Iraqi officer speaking to reporters at the crash site said that the two Apaches had been shot down overnight while they were surveying the area around the southern city of Kerbala at low altitude.

Information Minister Mohamed Said Al-Sahhaf said that Iraq might show their crews on television later in a further blow to coalition forces, which launched the invasion to topple President Saddam Hussein on Thursday.

"A small number of peasants shot down two Apaches. We have shown the images of one of them on Iraqi television and we may show images of the pilots of the two aircraft or we may not show them," Sahhaf taunted.

The threat followed Sunday night's broadcast of the bloodied corpses of US soldiers and interviews with five shaken US troops captured in battle, which infuriated Washington and London.

The officer said ruling Baath party militia, members of Saddam's loyal Fedayeen paramilitary and tribal fighters had opened fire on the two helicopters with Kalashnikov assault rifles and anti-aircraft artillery.

Iraqi authorities took reporters to the area near Kerbala, a Shi'ite Muslim pilgrimage city 80km south of Baghdad.

There they saw one black Apache, lying in the field of a small private farm. The helicopter bore signs of shots on its rear rotor but was otherwise intact.

No other aircraft was shown to the reporters or on Iraqi television, but the officer said it was a few kilometres away.

"We raced toward the farm where we saw two American pilots leave the helicopter," he said. "They turned themselves in to our men and we handed them over to the army."

Dozens of Kerbala residents rushed to see the crash site, some of them climbing into the cabin and flashing the "V" for victory.

Chopper down - fate of crew 'uncertain'

The chief commander of the US-led campaign in Iraq, General Tommy Franks, admitted an Apache went down during an operation against elite Iraqi Republican Guard units near Baghdad on Monday and that its two-man crew was missing.

"The fate of the crew is uncertain right now," Franks said.

But he denied the claim that a helicopter had been brought down by rifle fire from a farmer.

The Apache AH-64 is the US Army's most advanced helicopter and is designed to attack armoured vehicles.

The earlier television pictures from Kerbala showed the aircraft surrounded by Iraqi civilians, dancing and shouting slogans glorifying President Saddam Hussein and brandishing Kalashnikov rifles.

The inscription "United States of America" was clearly visible on the tail of the helicopter and the figures 95135 were inscribed on the rear rotor.

In the early evening, Iraqi television showed debris from another plane the presenter said had been taken down by Iraqi defences but did not specify what type of aircraft it was or where it had crashed.

- AFX