Missiles down Blackhawks
2003-11-15 22:06
Baghdad - Twelve coalition troops were killed when two US helicopters crashed Saturday in northern Iraq, as the US-led interim administration announced elections would be held here by end-2005.
"There are 12 coalition soldiers killed and nine wounded," a spokesman told AFP. A military official had earlier said that the two Blackhawk helicopters crashed west of Mosul.
An AFP correspondent at the scene saw a helicopter in flames on a road in a residential neighbourhood in the centre of the city.
US troops immediately moved in to cordon off the area where fire engines and ambulances had converged.
An Iraqi police officer said that he saw assailants ambushing a US foot patrol in the area, prompting the intervention of a Blackhawk helicopter.
A missile was then fired towards the chopper, which crashed into a second Blackhawk as it tried to dodge the missile, he said.
In Baghdad, the US-appointed Governing Council announced a timetable for a handover of power by the American-led coalition.
"There will be elections for a government which will draft a constitution before the end of 2005," said Jalal Talabani, who currently chairs the council.
- AFP