Downed helicopter - alternative report from Iraq
Iraqi Resistance shoots down US helicopter, killing 31 Marines near ar-Rutbah.
The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses as saying that Iraqi Resistance forces fired a SAM7 rocket, bringing down a US helicopter over the city of ar-Rutbah, 460km west of Baghdad at 7am Wednesday. The helicopter had been on its way to the village of Makr adh-Dhib, which lies near the city. The correspondent explained that American forces habitually carry out helicopter-borne landings in that area to raid and search houses and arrest people. It is nearly impossible for them to go by land to the village because the Resistance controls the countryside, so they must resort to helicopter-born assaults.
Shepherds and motorists who witnessed the attack told Mafkarat al-Islam that they saw the Americans gathering the remains of 31 American bodies from the desert west of ar-Rutbah. The US forces also evacuated a large number of wounded troops. Other American vehicles, meanwhile, loaded up and hauled away the wreckage of the helicopter that had been scattered over an approximately two-kilometer area.
Local witnesses told Markarat al-Islam that they hoped the Arab and Islamic news media would come and take pictures of the extent of the losses, which are what the local Resistance inflicts on the Americans every day. They said that the Americans were forced to announce the downing of this helicopter - something they seldom do - because numerous delegations of people from Baghdad and other provinces were scheduled to arrive in ar-Rutbah Wednesday and some of them were bound to have seen the crash or heard about it.
The Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent reported that a local amateur photographer managed to take a video of the wreckage of the helicopter and hid it in his shoe when passing through one of the checkpoints thrown up by the Americans around the crash zone. The amateur cameraman pledged to gave the film to the Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent so still pictures from it can be shown on the website as soon as the cassette arrives in the editorial office. The photographer told the correspondent, "If I knew that a satellite TVstation would broadcast it, I would have given it to them, but unfortunately there's nobody else here that I can give the cassette to."
The US military admitted that an American Marine helicopter had crashed in western Iraq early Wednesday morning. A statement by the US military said that the aircraft went down in the ar-Rutbah area in al-Anbar Province. It said that search and rescue operations were underway.
A report carried by the American Associated Press (AP) later said that the CH-53 Sea Stallion was carrying personnel from the 1st Marine Division when it went down about 1:20 am near the town of ar-Rutbah, about 220 miles west of Baghdad, while conducting what it called "security operations." The military statement said that 31 persons were killed aboard the craft.
Source: http://www.albasrah.net/
This item is posted in the interest of making available the widest possible range of information to facilitate informed judgment. deficient brain does not vouch for the accuracy of this report, any more than , for example, reports appearing here from the DoD.
The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses as saying that Iraqi Resistance forces fired a SAM7 rocket, bringing down a US helicopter over the city of ar-Rutbah, 460km west of Baghdad at 7am Wednesday. The helicopter had been on its way to the village of Makr adh-Dhib, which lies near the city. The correspondent explained that American forces habitually carry out helicopter-borne landings in that area to raid and search houses and arrest people. It is nearly impossible for them to go by land to the village because the Resistance controls the countryside, so they must resort to helicopter-born assaults.
Shepherds and motorists who witnessed the attack told Mafkarat al-Islam that they saw the Americans gathering the remains of 31 American bodies from the desert west of ar-Rutbah. The US forces also evacuated a large number of wounded troops. Other American vehicles, meanwhile, loaded up and hauled away the wreckage of the helicopter that had been scattered over an approximately two-kilometer area.
Local witnesses told Markarat al-Islam that they hoped the Arab and Islamic news media would come and take pictures of the extent of the losses, which are what the local Resistance inflicts on the Americans every day. They said that the Americans were forced to announce the downing of this helicopter - something they seldom do - because numerous delegations of people from Baghdad and other provinces were scheduled to arrive in ar-Rutbah Wednesday and some of them were bound to have seen the crash or heard about it.
The Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent reported that a local amateur photographer managed to take a video of the wreckage of the helicopter and hid it in his shoe when passing through one of the checkpoints thrown up by the Americans around the crash zone. The amateur cameraman pledged to gave the film to the Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent so still pictures from it can be shown on the website as soon as the cassette arrives in the editorial office. The photographer told the correspondent, "If I knew that a satellite TVstation would broadcast it, I would have given it to them, but unfortunately there's nobody else here that I can give the cassette to."
The US military admitted that an American Marine helicopter had crashed in western Iraq early Wednesday morning. A statement by the US military said that the aircraft went down in the ar-Rutbah area in al-Anbar Province. It said that search and rescue operations were underway.
A report carried by the American Associated Press (AP) later said that the CH-53 Sea Stallion was carrying personnel from the 1st Marine Division when it went down about 1:20 am near the town of ar-Rutbah, about 220 miles west of Baghdad, while conducting what it called "security operations." The military statement said that 31 persons were killed aboard the craft.
Source: http://www.albasrah.net/
This item is posted in the interest of making available the widest possible range of information to facilitate informed judgment. deficient brain does not vouch for the accuracy of this report, any more than , for example, reports appearing here from the DoD.
posted by exoplanet at 1:15 PM
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