BAGHDAD - A U.S. Army helicopter carrying nine personnel went down south of Baghdad on Thursday, the military said. All on board survived but four were wounded. The military issued only a brief statement confirming that the aircraft went down but gave no more details.
An Iraqi army official said earlier that a Black Hawk helicopter had gone down after it came under fire at about 7:30 a.m. near the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Latifiyah, 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Baghdad.
The U.S. military declined to comment on the details, saying the incident was under investigation.
The Iraqi official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns, said the helicopter had gone down in a rural area and U.S. forces had cordoned off the site. He said the militants apparently were using anti-aircraft heavy machine gun.
Latifiyah is part of the area dubbed the Triangle of Death because of frequent insurgent attacks.
The last helicopter incident in Iraq occurred on March 1, when an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter made a "hard landing" in northern Iraq leaving the two crew members wounded. A week earlier, ground fire forced the downing of a Black Hawk north of Baghdad.
With Thursday's incident, at least nine U.S. helicopters have crashed or been brought down by hostile fire this year in Iraq.
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