Middle East News
Al-Qaeda-affiliated group says it shot down US helicopter in Iraq
May 30, 2007, 12:23 GMT
Baghdad - The al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq issued an online statement Wednesday claiming responsibility for the crash of a US military helicopter.
The US military had said earlier that one of its helicopters was shot down in Diyala province 57 kilometres north of Baghdad on Tuesday.
'Allah has aided the soldiers of the Islamic state in shooting down a Super Cobra plane,' read Wednesday's statement which added that the two pilots - soldiers 'of the cross' - were killed.
'We attacked it with our air defence weaponry and we destroyed it in the air; it caught fire and exploded as the soldiers of the Islamic state shouted 'God is great' at the top of their lungs,' the insurgent statement read.
The Islamic State of Iraq is an al-Qaeda-linked militant group formed in October which comprises Sunni insurgent groups.
Meanwhile, the US-led coalition forces said Wednesday that Iraqi forces detained 15 suspected insurgents during three operations in central Iraq in recent days.
In another incident, the Association of Muslim Scholars, a top Sunni authority in Iraq, issued an online statement claiming that the Mahdi army - a Shiite militia loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr - had arrested several people in south-western Baghdad.
According to the Sunni organization, the Mahdi militias set up checkpoints in many districts including Baya and Aamal, scene of recent deadly attacks, and arrested several people.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
Let us stay in Iraq and fight those Jihadists.
Manuel Chavez...are you in Iraq? And maybe they arent 'jihadis' , but ordinary people who dont like being subject to a murderous military occupation. Wake up ! You armchair warriors are one tough bunch....LOL
'And maybe they arent 'jihadis' , but ordinary people who dont like being subject to a murderous military occupation'
And maybe you are an idiot that has no idea what we are fighting. Obviously 'ordinary people' do not set off car bombs next to lines of children and 'ordinary people' do not form up into death squads to murder people with power drills. The murdering you refer to has been done by these monsters and those monsters need to be gotten rid of for the good of humanity. And yes, I served.
BAGHDAD - U.S. troops battled al-Qaida in west Baghdad on Thursday after Sunni Arab residents challenged the militants and called for American help to end furious gunfire that kept students from final exams and forced people in the neighborhood to huddle indoors.
Backed by helicopter gunships, U.S. troops joined the two-day battle in the Amariyah district, according to a councilman and other residents of the Sunni district.
The fight reflects a trend that U.S. and Iraqi officials have been trumpeting recently to the west in Anbar province, once considered the heartland of the Sunni insurgency. Many Sunni tribes in the province have banded together to fight al-Qaida, claiming the terrorist group is more dangerous than American forces.
Although al-Qaida is a Sunni organization opposed to the Shiite Muslim-dominated government, its ruthlessness and reliance on foreign fighters have alienated many Sunnis in
Iraq.
The U.S. military congratulated Amariyah residents for standing up to al-Qaida.
'The events of the past two days are promising developments. Sunni citizens of Amariyah that have been previously terrorized by al-Qaida are now resisting and want them gone. They're tired of the intimidation that included the murder of women,' Kuehl said.
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August AbrahamMay 31st, 2007 - 00:53:29
Please stay in Iraq until all american killers die slowly and america slowly becomes bankrupt.It is not enough for what you have done to defenceless country and its citizens that did not declare war or invade you,so stay until your america is no more.
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