Two Black Hawk helicopters collided and crashed Saturday night, killing 17 American soldiers in the U.S. military's worst single loss of life since the Iraq war began. Five soldiers were injured and one was missing, the military said. One helicopter smashed into the roof of a house, witnesses said, and there were reports one of the aircraft was shot down. The two Black Hawks, which belonged to the 101st Airborne Division, went down in the Borsa residential neighborhood of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city.
| Murderous rat bastards... |
A statement by the U.S. command said one helicopter was carrying a quick reaction force and the other ferried soldiers on a transport mission in northern Iraq. The statement did not give the cause of the crash, although some soldiers at the scene said at least one of the Black Hawks may have been hit by ground fire. "The cause of the incidents are under investigation," the statement said. "We will not speculate on the cause of these crashes."
| I heard on the radio that the cause was RPG fire. They must have been flying pretty low — and pretty close to each other... |
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