Newsgroup: it.politica.pds
Titolo: Pax americana

English Aljazera.
Helicopter shot down in Iraq
Friday 22 April 2005, 2:29 Makka Time, 23:29 GMT    
 
A video grab shows the wreckage of the helicopter in Baghdad
 
 
 
 Related:
 Bombs, clashes shake Iraq 
 Violence continues in Iraq 
 
 
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A Bulgarian commercial helicopter carrying security contractors has
been shot down by missile fire north of the Iraqi capital, killing all
11 people aboard, including six Americans.
The Russian-built Mi-8 helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled
grenade as it flew over a deserted area north of Baghdad, Bulgarian
officials and the US military said on Thursday. 
 
It was believed to be the first downing of a civilian aircraft in
Iraq.
 
The Bulgarian company that owned the downed helicopter said that
besides three Bulgarian crew, there were six American passengers and
two guards from an unspecified country on board. 
 
A group campaigning against the US presence in Iraq claimed
responsibility for the attack on the helicopter, according to an
internet statement.
 
Group statement
 
"The Islamic Army in Iraq claims responsibility for bringing down a
... cargo aircraft and killing all those on board," said the short
posting on a website, adding that a fuller statement and a video film
of the attack would follow.
"One of the crew members was captured alive and killed," it said. 
 
 
An Mi-8 helicopter like this one 
crashed on Thursday
 
The group said the crew member was killed to "avenge Muslims killed in
cold blood in Falluja's mosques ... in front of the eyes of the world
and on television screens without anyone protesting".
 
All on board were civilians, US military officials said. The Americans
worked for Blackwater security consultants. 
 
A Canada-based charter company said the two additional passengers were
bodyguards from Fiji, but the Bulgarian Transport Ministry said they
were from the Philippines. 
 
The Philippine mission in Baghdad said it had no information that any
of its nationals were on the helicopter. 
 
Two American military officials in Baghdad initially said the
helicopter was leased by the US Defence Department, but the US embassy
later said that was untrue. It gave no further information.
 
It was unclear whether the civilians' employers were under contract to
the Pentagon or the US State Department, US 
officials in Washington said. 
 
Blackwater casualties
 
Last year, four Blackwater employees were killed in Falluja, and their
bodies were burned and mutilated. Two of the corpses were strung up on
a bridge over the Euphrates River. The deaths touched off a US marines
assault on the city. 
 
The Mi-8 helicopter went down about 20km north of Baghdad, the US
embassy said. Video on television showed burning wreckage from the
Russian-built craft and personal belongings scattered across a wide
area.
 
The Bulgarian Defence Ministry issued a statement saying the
helicopter was struck by missile fire. US officials said they 
presumed the helicopter was shot down but could not confirm that until
an investigation was completed. 
 
The helicopter was owned by Bulgaria-based Heli Air and chartered by
Toronto-based SkyLink Aviation Inc, said SkyLink air operations
manager Paul Greenaway. The helicopter was flying to Tikrit, he added.
 
Greenaway said the six Americans were "doing some sort of security
work".
 
On 13 March, two American security contractors working for Blackwater
Security, a subsidiary of Blackwater USA, were killed and a third was
wounded in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad on the main road to
Hilla. 
 
Civilians killed 
Meanwhile, in Ramadi, 115km west of Baghdad, a roadside bomb wounded
one soldier in a US convoy. When another US soldier fired his machine
gun at a suspected Iraqi ambush site, a female Iraqi civilian was
wounded, then died in a hospital, US officials said. 
 
 
Car bombings have been used 
frequently by anti-US fighters
 
Hours later, gunfire erupted downtown, and an Associated Press
photographer at the scene saw a young boy lying dead in a street near
three smouldering cars. Sporadic gunfire continued for about two
hours, the photographer, Bilal Husain, said. 
 
When it subsided, Iraqis pulled the charred body of an adult from one
of the burned cars, he said. 
 
It was not clear how the two had been killed. 
 
The US military had no immediate information on the second incident. 
 
Bodies identified
 
In related news, the Iraqi Defence Ministry identified 19
bullet-riddled bodies found on Wednesday in Haditha, 220km northwest
of Baghdad, as fishermen, not soldiers as initially rumoured. 
 
Investigations indicated the men had come from the southern Diwaniya
and Najaf provinces to fish in Tharthar lake when they were captured
by fighters, taken to the football stadium at nearby Haditha and shot,
said Saleh Sarhan, the ministry's chief spokesman. 
 
He did not say how the victims had been identified or why they might
have been captured.
 
Contractors killed
 
Also on Thursday, a bomb targeting Western workers in Iraq exploded,
killing a security contractor. 
 
A spokeswoman for the British-based Aegis defence services said one
employee was killed and another injured as their car headed from the
capital towards the airport. 
 
 
This Iraqi civilian was wounded by 
the Airport Road bomb
 
"Aegis defence services can confirm that one member of staff was
killed in the line of duty in Baghdad today and another person
sustained injuries," she said. She gave no details as to their
identities.
 
Aljazeera reported the two were US citizens.
 
One Iraqi civilian, travelling in another car, was also hurt by the
blast, according to an interior ministry official.
 
Convoy attacked
 
Aljazeera also reported an explosion caused by a car bomb targeting a
US convoy near al-Amil neighbourhood.
 
Iraqi journalist Muhammad Abd Allah told Aljazeera an Iraqi driver was
also wounded in the attack and was transferred to a nearby hospital.
 
No other casualties were immediately reported, but one of the vehicles
was consumed by flames, and white smoke rose from another one, police
Captain Hamid Ali said.
 
All three vehicles appeared to have been blown off the road by the
impact of the explosion, witnesses said. 
 
The road to the airport is only a few kilometres long and flanked by
US military bases. 
 
Abd Allah said al-Matar (Airport) Road was known as ''Death Road''.

 
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