U.S. military spokesman Major General William Caldwell confirmed the incident, but did not comment on casualties.
"We have a CH-46 [helicopter] that is down," Caldwell said. "The quick reaction force is on site, and the investigation is going on as we speak. That is a location to the northwest here of Baghdad, about [30 kilometers away]."
The CH-46 can carry up to 55 passengers.
Four other U.S. helicopters have crashed or been shot down in Iraq in the last few weeks, killing a total of 21 troops and private contractors.
Caldwell also announced that new Iraqi-led security operations intended to quell insurgent and sectarian fighting in Baghdad are now under way.
The Iraqi general who is leading the security drive took over the operation headquarters on February 5, but there have been no further announcements on the operations until today.
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Posted February 7th, 2007 by Dinka
