US forces reeling after bloodiest attack yet



By Michael Georgy

Baisa, Iraq - Guerrillas shot down a United States Chinook helicopter as it flew towards Baghdad airport on Sunday, killing at least 13 soldiers in the bloodiest single attack on occupying troops since Saddam Hussein was overthrown.

"Currently 13 soldiers are KIA (killed in action) and some 20 wounded," a US Army spokesperson told Reuters.

The crippled helicopter came down in farmland near the village of Baisa, south of the flashpoint town of Falluja, a stronghold of anti-US resistance 50km west of Baghdad.

'They fired a missile at one and missed, and then they hit the other'Several US helicopters circled overhead and other helicopters and US Humvees were parked around the wreckage.

The US Army said the helicopter was one of two Chinook transport helicopters heading towards Baghdad airport carrying soldiers on a rest and recreation trip.

It said the helicopter, carrying around 30 people including five crew, had been "shot down by an unknown weapon".

Locals in Falluja said two surface-to-air missiles had been fired but that only one hit its target.

"There were two American helicopters. They fired a missile at one and missed, and then they hit the other, which crashed and caught fire," witness Dawoud Suleiman said.

Troops kept reporters back from the crash site as another military helicopter with a red cross sign on its side landed, sending up clouds of dust from the dry scrubland.

U.S. soldiers told journalists to leave the area and confiscated film from photographers at the scene.

Also in Falluja, residents said a convoy of US soldiers in civilian vehicles was hit by a roadside bomb.

At least one US vehicle was ablaze at the site of the attack and a crowd of jubilant Iraqis gathered round. Television pictures showed a gleeful Iraqi youth wearing a US Army helmet.