Another US Helicopter Shot Down in 48 Hours in Iraq

Iraqi Mujahideen fighters had shot down Wednesday afnernoon (September 13) a US Cobra helicopter over the village of Sarir, home of members of the ar-Rawiyin tribe. The Cobra crashed to earth and they had no information about the crew.  At the time of reporting, American troops had encircled the whole village.  The American soldiers could be seen searching in the al-Hajj Najm and Kantarat ar-Rawiyin gardens for the crew of the helicopter.

This was the second helicopter that the Iraqi Mujahideen had shot down in 48 hours.

Iraqi Mujahideen fighters ambushed a US patrol in the Haqlaniyah area of eastern al-Hadithah, about 220km northwest of Baghdad, on Wednesday. The Mujahideen armed with light and medium weapons attacked the US patrol near the al-Haqlaniyah School.  The attack disabled one Humvee and killed two US troops and wounded three more of them.  Two Resistance fighters were also wounded but were able to withdraw from the scene.

Iraqi Mujahideen forces fired rockets Wednesday afternoon at the US bases al-Warrar and at the Agricultural College in ar-Ramadi, about 110km west of Baghdad.  Both bases on opposite sides of the city were being blasted intermittently by Katyusha and Grad rockets.  Plumes of smoke could be seen rising from both US-occupied facilities as sirens wailed inside.The Mujahideen fired three medium-range Katyusha rockets into the US al-Warrar base in western ar-Ramadi.

Fierce fighting had broken Wednesday night between Mujahideen and US occupation troops in one of the neighborhoods of al-Hawijah in northern Iraq. A Mujahideen bomb and an RPG7 grenade had destroyed two US vehicles setting fires in the night sky of the city.  The correspondent reported that the Mujahideen and the US troops were no more than 30 meters from each other.