Both pilots killed; 4 dead in bombing

BAGHDAD -- A US Apache attack helicopter crashed yesterday north of Baghdad, killing both pilots, after a witness said he saw the aircraft hit by a rocket that ''destroyed it completely in the air."

The AH-64 crashed in Mishahda, 20 miles north of the capital, and witness Mohammed Naji told Associated Press Television News he saw two helicopters flying toward Mishahda when ''a rocket hit one of them and destroyed it completely in the air."

The two pilots were killed in the crash, which is under investigation, said Lieutenant Colonel Clifford Kent, spokesman for the Third Infantry Division. At least 1,737 members of the US military have died since the Iraq war began in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

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The Chinook is regularly used as a troop carrier in Afghanistan
The US military says hostile fire probably brought down a helicopter which crashed in eastern Afghanistan.
A search is under way for the 17 crew members of the Chinook helicopter in the province of Konar. It is not known if there are any survivors.

The hardline Taleban militia - driven from power by US forces in 2001 - has claimed it downed the helicopter.

US forces have been leading an assault on Taleban and al-Qaeda guerrillas opposed to the Kabul government.

A US military spokeswoman said "initial reports indicate the crash may have been caused by hostile fire".

"The status of the service members is unknown at this time," she said.

US forces will be wary of using more helicopters in the rescue effort for fear they too could be attacked, says the BBC's
Andrew North, who is at the US base where the search is being co-ordinated.

The rescue operation has been further complicated by the high altitude of the crash site, a remote, moutainous area west of the town of Asadabad.

If the reports of hostile fire are confirmed, the Chinook will become the first US helicopter to be downed in such a way in Afghanistan.

A sandstorm was blamed for a US helicopter crash in April that killed 18 soldiers - the single heaviest loss of life for US troops since they entered Afghanistan in 2001.

BBC and Boston.com/News