achicnsocal
01-08-2006, 04:17 PM
:tears
BAGHDAD (AFP) - A US military helicopter crashed in Iraq, killing all 12 on board, while five more US soldiers died in the west of the country, the US military announced.
In other developments, a French hostage kidnapped by insurgents in Baghdad a month ago and threatened with death escaped from his captors.
A US spokesman said the cause of Saturday night's crash of the Black Hawk near the restive city of Tal Afar in northwestern Iraq was under investigation, adding that there was severe weather at the time the helicopter went down.
"A coalition helicopter crashed in a sparsely populated area 12 kilometres (seven miles) east of Tal Afar shortly before midnight (2100 GMT), killing passengers and crew," a statement said.
The Black Hawk was part of a two-aircraft mission flying between bases in northern Iraq when communications were lost with the aircraft on Saturday night, the military said.
"Flight records indicate that eight passengers and four crew members were manifested for the flight. An immediate search and rescue operation was launched from nearby military installations."
The spokesman said he could not immediately give details about those on board the plane which was found at about noon (0900 GMT) on Sunday.
It was the second deadliest US military crash in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, after a transport helicopter went down last January, killing 31 aboard.
Earlier, the US military announced that five US marines had been killed in and around the restive western Iraqi town of Fallujah over the weekend.
Three "were killed by small-arms fire in separate attacks while conducting combat operations against the enemy" on Sunday, a statement said.
Another two were killed by roadside bomb explosions to the south and east of the city on Saturday.
The latest casualties took the death toll of US soldiers in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to over 2,200.
In a rare glimmer of hope in the hostage crisis blighting Iraq, a French engineer kidnapped by insurgents five weeks ago in Baghdad walked freed and even tried to help US troops arrest his captors, the US military said Sunday.
Bernard Planche, 52, on Saturday ran away from a farmhouse where he was held after his captors fled US and Iraqi troops who were conducting a search of a rural area on the western outskirts of the capital, it said.
The former hostage then insisted on staying with US troops for six hours to help them hunt for his former captors, the military said, without giving details of any arrests.
France's Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Planche was taken Sunday afternoon to the French embassy in Baghdad from where he was to return to France shortly.
The engineer, who was working on water projects, is the fourth French hostage to survive a kidnapping in Iraq since the US-led invasion.
He was seized by an Iraqi rebel group on December 5 from his home in an upmarket Baghdad neighbourhood.
The group, calling itself the Battalion of the Lookout for Iraq, had threatened to kill him if France did not "end its illegitimate presence in Iraq" in a video broadcast by Al-Arabiya television on December 28.
The French government pointed out it has no military presence in Iraq.
The Dubai-based channel showed a black-and-white video bearing the group's logo and showing a man with a moustache, on his knees, with two gunmen standing behind him.
Two days later, the man's brother and daughter appealed for his release on Al-Arabiya, saying he was in Iraq only to help the Iraqi people.
Hostage-taking has become commonplace in the country over the past two years, as Westerners pay the price for their governments attracting the wrath of rebel groups that opposed the US-led war and its foreign occupation.
Since August 2004, three other French citizens, all journalists, have been kidnapped in two separate incidents by armed groups in Iraq.
All three were released after months in captivity following high-profile campaigns for their freedom in France and rumours of ransom payments.
Iraqis have also been caught up in the deadly game, with hundreds going missing -- more frequently taken by criminals who demand a ransom.
Rebels have also kidnapped Iraqis working for the government or foreign forces, including this past week the sister of Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr Solagh.
Several Westerners are still being held hostage in the country, including a number of Americans, a Briton and two Canadians. Four members of a Christian peace group were kidnapped in November in Baghdad.
BAGHDAD (AFP) - A US military helicopter crashed in Iraq, killing all 12 on board, while five more US soldiers died in the west of the country, the US military announced.
In other developments, a French hostage kidnapped by insurgents in Baghdad a month ago and threatened with death escaped from his captors.
A US spokesman said the cause of Saturday night's crash of the Black Hawk near the restive city of Tal Afar in northwestern Iraq was under investigation, adding that there was severe weather at the time the helicopter went down.
"A coalition helicopter crashed in a sparsely populated area 12 kilometres (seven miles) east of Tal Afar shortly before midnight (2100 GMT), killing passengers and crew," a statement said.
The Black Hawk was part of a two-aircraft mission flying between bases in northern Iraq when communications were lost with the aircraft on Saturday night, the military said.
"Flight records indicate that eight passengers and four crew members were manifested for the flight. An immediate search and rescue operation was launched from nearby military installations."
The spokesman said he could not immediately give details about those on board the plane which was found at about noon (0900 GMT) on Sunday.
It was the second deadliest US military crash in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, after a transport helicopter went down last January, killing 31 aboard.
Earlier, the US military announced that five US marines had been killed in and around the restive western Iraqi town of Fallujah over the weekend.
Three "were killed by small-arms fire in separate attacks while conducting combat operations against the enemy" on Sunday, a statement said.
Another two were killed by roadside bomb explosions to the south and east of the city on Saturday.
The latest casualties took the death toll of US soldiers in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to over 2,200.
In a rare glimmer of hope in the hostage crisis blighting Iraq, a French engineer kidnapped by insurgents five weeks ago in Baghdad walked freed and even tried to help US troops arrest his captors, the US military said Sunday.
Bernard Planche, 52, on Saturday ran away from a farmhouse where he was held after his captors fled US and Iraqi troops who were conducting a search of a rural area on the western outskirts of the capital, it said.
The former hostage then insisted on staying with US troops for six hours to help them hunt for his former captors, the military said, without giving details of any arrests.
France's Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Planche was taken Sunday afternoon to the French embassy in Baghdad from where he was to return to France shortly.
The engineer, who was working on water projects, is the fourth French hostage to survive a kidnapping in Iraq since the US-led invasion.
He was seized by an Iraqi rebel group on December 5 from his home in an upmarket Baghdad neighbourhood.
The group, calling itself the Battalion of the Lookout for Iraq, had threatened to kill him if France did not "end its illegitimate presence in Iraq" in a video broadcast by Al-Arabiya television on December 28.
The French government pointed out it has no military presence in Iraq.
The Dubai-based channel showed a black-and-white video bearing the group's logo and showing a man with a moustache, on his knees, with two gunmen standing behind him.
Two days later, the man's brother and daughter appealed for his release on Al-Arabiya, saying he was in Iraq only to help the Iraqi people.
Hostage-taking has become commonplace in the country over the past two years, as Westerners pay the price for their governments attracting the wrath of rebel groups that opposed the US-led war and its foreign occupation.
Since August 2004, three other French citizens, all journalists, have been kidnapped in two separate incidents by armed groups in Iraq.
All three were released after months in captivity following high-profile campaigns for their freedom in France and rumours of ransom payments.
Iraqis have also been caught up in the deadly game, with hundreds going missing -- more frequently taken by criminals who demand a ransom.
Rebels have also kidnapped Iraqis working for the government or foreign forces, including this past week the sister of Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr Solagh.
Several Westerners are still being held hostage in the country, including a number of Americans, a Briton and two Canadians. Four members of a Christian peace group were kidnapped in November in Baghdad.