Italians, Americans Die in Aircraft Crashes
31/05/2005| IslamWeb
An Italian army helicopter has crashed southeast of the Iraqi city of Nasiriya, killing four Italians, Italy's military command says.
The AB 412 helicopter crashed overnight about 13km southeast of Nasiriya, the southern Iraqi city where Italy's 3000 troops are based, the military said in a statement on Tuesday.
The cause was not immediately clear.
The helicopter was returning from the Kuwaiti international airport and had stopped to refuel at Camp Buehring, also in Kuwait. Radio contact was lost soon after take off from the camp, the statement said.
A rescue team found the wreckage at dawn in the desert close to the Tallill air base in Iraq near Nasiriya.
Last Thursday, an OH-58 surveillance helicopter was shot down by small arms fire near the town of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, killing both American soldiers on board.
Also, the Iraqi fixed-wing aircraft crashed near the village of Jalula, northeast of Baghdad, said U.S. military spokesman.
It was unclear what type of aircraft it was, who was in control or why it crashed. The four Americans killed were all U.S. Air Force members and the Iraqi was a pilot, the spokesman said.
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