Report: 3 helicopters were involved in Blackwater crash incident; 4 of 5 dead shot in head; 1 copter caught in electric lines

A private helicopter used by Blackwater security services over Baghdad in 2004.

BAGHDAD, Iraq // Four of the five Americans killed when a U.S. security company's helicopter crashed in a dangerous Sunni neighborhood in central Baghdad were shot execution style in the back the head, Iraqi and U.S. officials said today.

A senior Iraqi military official also said the helicopter had been shot down, but this was disputed by a U.S. military official in Washington. The Iraqi said the helicopter was hit by a machine gunner over the Fadhil neighborhood on the east side of the Tigris River, while the U.S. official said initial reports gave no indication that the aircraft, owned by Blackwater USA, had been shot down. The Americans said they did not know what caused the aircraft to crash.

In Washington, a U.S. defense official said the four had been shot in the back of the head but it was unclear whether they were alive or already dead or dying when they were shot.

It also was not clear whether the small aircraft was shot down in the common sense -- that is, whether gunfire actually brought it down or caused the craft to drop toward the ground, where it got caught in electrical wires, he said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

The helicopter was virtually destroyed and after investigating the site, U.S. forces had been planning to blow up it up to keep people from scavenging the parts but the official didn't know whether that had yet been done.

Another American official in Baghdad, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said three Blackwater helicopters were involved. One had landed for an unknown reason and one of the Blackwater employees was shot at that point, he said. That helicopter apparently was able to take off but a second one then crashed in the same area, he added without explaining the involvement of the third helicopter.

The helicopter was believed to have been flying escort above a VIP convoy on the ground as it headed away from the heavily fortified Green Zone to an undisclosed destination.

A report in The Washington Post, also citing unnamed U.S. officials, said one of the Blackwater victims was killed as he traveled with the convoy on the ground.

Blackwater USA provides security for State Department officials in Iraq, trains military units from around the world, and works for corporate clients.

Read the rest at the Sun

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Report: 5 die as Blackwater security helicopter downed over Baghdad