2 U.S. pilots killed in Iraq copter crash

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Two U.S. pilots were killed in northern Iraq Friday when their helicopter was shot down by insurgents, the U.S. Army said. It was the second fatal helicopter crash involving U.S. forces in less than a week and the 31st since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

The two-seat armed OH-58D Kiowa went down while on combat patrol with another U.S. helicopter in Mosul, about 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Hostile fire was reported in the area where the craft went down, the military said. Under cover of the surviving helicopter, ground units from the 172 Stryker Brigade Combat Team sealed off the area.

The Associated Press quoted an officer of the brigade saying the gunmen fled into a nearby mosque. The Army did not say whether anyone was detained.

The bodies of the two crew members were recovered but their names were not immediately released.

Eight U.S. troops and four American civilians died Jan. 8 when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in bad weather near the northern city of Tall Afar, about 40 miles west of Mosul.

A Times analysis of data shows that 138 U.S. service members had died before Friday in 30 helicopter crashes, 16 caused by hostile fire and 13 by accidents. The military has not determined the cause of the Jan. 8 crash. In addition, 22 service members of British armed forces have been killed in helicopter crashes.

In the worst of those, 31 troops, among them 27 based in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, were killed last January, causing the state's greatest one-day loss of lives since Pearl Harbor.

Elsewhere Friday, two other incidents marred the lull in violence that had accompanied the four-day holiday of Eid al-Adha.

U.S. soldiers killed an Iraqi police officer shortly after he left the station in Duluiyah, about 55 miles north of Baghdad, said Capt. Mahmoud Jiouri of the Duluiyah police. The officer was driving home in uniform when he was shot about 3 p.m., Jibouri said.

A spokesman for the Army said he had no information on the report.

Two Iraqi policemen were killed in the volatile city of Baqouba, 30 miles north of Baghdad, by a remotely-detonated car bomb. The explosive, set off at a taxi stop, targeted a convoy, said 1st Lt. Mohammed Salman. Five other officers and a civilian were injured, and several cars destroyed.

Also on Friday, anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr met with officials in Saudi Arabia while on the Hajj pilgrimage.

Al-Sadr, who was once wanted dead or alive by the U.S. military after his militia fought street battles with U.S. forces, had urged his followers to participate in the December election. He now appears to control 30 of the 275 seats in the newly elected National Assembly.

In a televised interview, al-Sadr said he was trying to enhance relations with Iraq's neighbor, a monarchy with close U.S. ties. Al- Sadr also said that he would consider meeting with Americans, but only after U.S. troops leave Iraq.

"If they leave the Iraqi borders, and if we thought there would be a benefit, we would meet with them," al-Sadr said.

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