Second US helicopter goes down in Iraq in one week

Two American pilots were killed in a reconnaissance plane crash during a fighting mission in Musil in the north of Iraq.

Brig. Richard Green said there was evidence on the exchange of fire between gunmen and the Iraqi forces in the region where the helicopter was flying, adding that the gunmen fled to a nearby mosque.

Witnesses said earlier that they saw gunmen open fire at the American helicopter. A matter which was not ruled out by the coalition forces in Iraq, the American general John Fines said.

Fines said that there are indicators that the crash of the helicopter was a result of "hostile" fires to be the second helicopter lost by the American army in less than one week.