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'Downed pilots captured'
23/03/2003 15:27 - (SA)
Doha - Television reports from Iraq say a coalition aircrew has been captured after being forced to bail out of their plane above Baghdad.
But US military officials said they had no knowledge of any planes missing.
The Arabic television network Al-Jazeera said the pair were seen parachuting into the River Tigris.
Live television pictures showed yelling soldiers searching the banks of the river and firing volleys of shots into the water.
Other troops in speedboats searched up and down the water.
Sky's David Chater, who is operating under reporting restrictions in Baghdad, said he has been told that one of the pilots has been caught.
US Air Force General Richard Myers, chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, discounted the claims.
"We have nothing to substantiate that claim by the Iraqis that any pilot has bailed out of his airplane over Baghdad," he told American television.
- AFP
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