Three injured in Blackhawk crash

MILITARY ACCIDENT: A US army Blackhawk helicopter flies over Baghdad International Airport. (AFP)

Three US soldiers were wounded when two Blackhawk helicopters crashed during landing in their base in Baghdad, the American military said Sunday.

One Iraqi soldier was killed, and two Iraqi soldiers and three American soldiers were wounded when the two UH-60 Blackhawks collided late Saturday as they were landing in their base near Baghdad's Sunni district of Adhamiyah, a US military statement said.

Soon after the crash the military had said two US soldiers were wounded in the incident.

"The cause of the accident is currently under investigation, but hostile fire is not suspected as a cause of the incident," the statement on Sunday said.

The UH-60 is the workhorse of the US military and operates in pairs. Each aircraft crew consists of two pilots and two gunners. Blackhawks routinely throw magnesium flares to deflect any heat-seeking missiles fired at them.

The latest US helicopter incident came 17 days after another US military helicopter crashed in southern Iraq, killing all seven soldiers aboard.

The CH-47 Chinook crashed about 100 kilometres west of the main southern port city of Basra as it formed part of a four-aircraft convoy flying from Kuwait to the northern city of Balad.

The US military had said that they did not suspect enemy activity in the Sept. 18 crash too, but investigation findings have not been published.

The worst single crash was on Nov. 15, 2003, when two Blackhawks collided near the main northern city of Mosul, killing 17 soldiers.

In August last year, a Blackhawk transport chopper crashed in northern Iraq, killing 14 US military personnel.

Two American soldiers were hurt when their helicopter crashed south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad in June this year.

In January and February last year there was a spate of crashes, including some aircraft shot down by insurgents.

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