Here's something to gloat over fallguy, atomu, milesg. Lots of American dead and even some jubilant Iraqis, the stuff your dreams are made of.....
Fifteen soldiers have been killed and 21 others wounded when a US military helicopter was shot down flying to Baghdad international airport Sunday morning, a military spokesperson said.
"Fifteen were killed in action and 21 wounded," US army Colonel William Darley said, confirming the dead were soldiers from the US-led coalition.
"At approximately 9:00am local time, a US CH-47 of the 12th Aviation Brigade, in support of the 82nd Airborne Division, made a crash landing approximately one mile [less than a kilometre] south-west of Fallujah," he said.
"We are aware of eyewitnesses seeing what they presumed to be missile trails," Colonel Darley said, raising speculation the chopper was hit by a surface-to-air missile.
The attack caused the biggest single death toll among occupying troops since Saddam Hussein was toppled in April.
Guerrillas shot down the US Chinook helicopter as it flew towards Baghdad airport in Iraq.
Witnesses said the helicopter had come down south of the flashpoint town of Fallujah, a stronghold of anti-US resistance 50 kilometres west of Baghdad.
They said several other US helicopters were circling over the crash site.
The US spokesman said the helicopter was one of two CH-47 Chinooks heading towards Baghdad airport carrying personnel returning from a rest and recreation trip.
They said 32 to 35 passengers were aboard the downed aircraft.
The spokesman said rescue teams were in the area where the helicopter came down after it was "shot down by an unknown weapon".
The spokesman could not confirm the nationality of the person killed or say whether the victim was a soldier or a civilian.
Locals in Fallujah said two surface-to-air missiles had been fired at the helicopter and that one had hit its target.
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the United States would continue its efforts to stabilise Iraq, despite the deadly helicopter attack.
Mr Rumsfeld has confirmed the casualties, adding that the helicopter was probably hit by a surface-to-air missile.
Such missiles have been fired at aircraft around Baghdad Airport and Mr Rumsfeld confirmed that they are readily available.
"We all know that these so-called manned portable surface-to-air missiles are widely available in the world and do have the ability to shoot down aircraft and helicopters and from time to time it happens in various locations," Mr Rumsfeld said.
But he said these most recent losses would not dissuade President George W Bush's administration from continuing its global war on terror.
"The only thing to do is... to take the war on terror to the terrorists," Mr Rumsfeld said.
"You can't just hunker down and hope they don't hit you again," he said.
Mr Rumsfeld has mourned the deaths declaring, "we can win this war - we will win this war".
"The work in Iraq is difficult - it is tough, it is going to take time but progress is being made," he said.
Mr Rumsfeld made the comments in an interview with NBC's Meet the Press program, shortly after the helicopter was shot down by guerrillas near Baghdad, killing at least 13 soldiers in the bloodiest attack on American forces since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
"Your heart goes out to their families," Mr Rumsfeld said.
"But what they are doing is important... they are taking the war to the terrorists.
"The President has said he will stay there [in Iraq] as long as it takes and not one day longer," he said.
In another interview, Mr Rumsfeld told the ABC America's This Week program that, "clearly it is a tragic day for Americans... in a long hard war we are going to have tragic days".
Also in Fallujah, residents said a convoy of US soldiers in civilian vehicles was hit by a roadside bomb.
At least one US vehicle was ablaze at the site of the attack and a crowd of jubilant Iraqis gathered round.
Television pictures showed a gleeful Iraqi youth wearing a US Army helmet.
