Two US servicemen were missing yesterday after their Black Hawk helicopter crashed in western Iraq, while security forces launched a fresh bid to regain control of Baghdad's violent streets.
The US military said the transport chopper went down on Tuesday in the restive province of Al-Anbar and that two of the six crew had not been found.
"The aircraft has been located. Search and rescue efforts are ongoing for two missing crew members. The remaining four are in stable condition," US Marine Corps spokesman Major Riccoh Player said.
"We are using all the resources available to find our missing comrades," he said, adding: "The incident does not appear to be a result of enemy action."
Frequent crashes
The chopper crash was the third such since May. The previous two were allegedly shot down by groups linked to terror network al-Qaeda.
The 130,000-strong US force in Iraq relies extensively on helicopters to transport troops and supplies, survey territory and carry out air strikes on insurgent forces.
Many of the roads around Iraq are not regarded as safe for ground convoys because of the risk of roadside bombs and ambushes -- the biggest cause of casualties for the military since the March 2003 invasion ended.
Iraqi and US security forces, meanwhile, formally launched the second phase of a security plan aimed at regaining control of Baghdad that has seen thousands killed in insurgent and sectarian Shiite-Sunni violence.
Phase one of Operation Together Forward began in June, but has failed to curb the violence that has seen daily bombings, shootings and sectarian killings leaving scores dead in the streets of Baghdad.
Insurgents have defied the security crackdown, carrying out deadly attacks on mosques and markets, while rival Shiite and Sunni death squads have rampaged through the capital's neighborhoods kidnapping, torturing and killing people.
The first phase of the operation brought more than 50,000 Iraqi and US troops on to the streets.
Reinforcements
When this failed to halt the bloodshed, officials brought an extra 6,000 Iraqi police and troops into the capital, along with 5,500 US soldiers pulled in from different missions elsewhere in Iraq.
"We must dramatically reduce the level of violence in Baghdad that is fuelling sectarianism," said Major General James Thurman, commander of US-led forces in the Baghdad region.
"Iraqi and US forces will help the citizens of Baghdad by reducing the violence that has plagued this city since the Samarra bombing," he said, referring to an insurgent attack on a revered Shiite mosque in February that triggered tit-for-tat Shiite-Sunni reprisals.
Under the first phase of Together Forward, troops killed or captured 411 "murderers associated with death squads," the US statement said.
BEYOND WASHINGTON: Although historically the US has been the partner of choice for military exercises, Jakarta has been trying to diversify its partners, an analyst said Indonesia’s first joint military drills with Russia this week signal that new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto would seek a bigger role for Jakarta on the world stage as part of a significant foreign policy shift, analysts said. Indonesia has long maintained a neutral foreign policy and refuses to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict or US-China rivalry, but Prabowo has called for stronger ties with Moscow despite Western pressure on Jakarta. “It is part of a broader agenda to elevate ties with whomever it may be, regardless of their geopolitical bloc, as long as there is a benefit for Indonesia,” said Pieter
US ELECTION: Polls show that the result is likely to be historically tight. However, a recent Iowa poll showed Harris winning the state that Trump won in 2016 and 2020 US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris courted voters angered by the Gaza war while former US President and Republican candidate Donald Trump doubled down on violent rhetoric with a comment about journalists being shot as the tense US election campaign entered its final hours. The Democratic vice president and the Republican former president frantically blitzed several swing states as they tried to win over the last holdouts with less than 36 hours left until polls open on election day today. Trump predicted a “landslide,” while Harris told a raucous rally in must-win Michigan that “we have momentum — it’s
CARGO PLANE VECTOR: Officials said they believe that attacks involving incendiary devices on planes was the work of Russia’s military intelligence agency the GRU Western security officials suspect Russian intelligence was behind a plot to put incendiary devices in packages on cargo planes headed to North America, including one that caught fire at a courier hub in Germany and another that ignited in a warehouse in England. Poland last month said that it had arrested four people suspected to be linked to a foreign intelligence operation that carried out sabotage and was searching for two others. Lithuania’s prosecutor general Nida Grunskiene on Tuesday said that there were an unspecified number of people detained in several countries, offering no elaboration. The events come as Western officials say
TIGHT CAMPAIGN: Although Harris got a boost from an Iowa poll, neither candidate had a margin greater than three points in any of the US’ seven battleground states US Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL) in the final days before the election, as she and former US president and Republican presidential nominees make a frantic last push to win over voters in a historically close campaign. The first lines Harris spoke as she sat across from Maya Rudolph, their outfits identical, was drowned out by cheers from the audience. “It is nice to see you Kamala,” Harris told Rudolph with a broad grin she kept throughout the sketch. “And I’m just here to remind you, you got this.” In sync, the two said supporters
RSS