Military reveals helicopter downed in Diyala on Monday was result of a 'complex attack'; 2 died in crash, 6 in attempted rescue

Above: An AH-64 Apache helicopter in Ninewa, Iraq in 2005. Although the military hasn't released details on the type of helicopter downed, the AH-64 Apache is the United States Army's principal attack helicopter and takes a 2-man crew. The crew sit in tandem, with the pilot sitting behind and above the copilot-gunner in an armored crew compartment. The laying of IEDs to ambush rescuers has become a common tactic, and suggests a well-coordinated choice of timing and placement for the attack.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A U.S. helicopter that crashed and killed two soldiers in Iraq 's Diyala province Monday was shot down by enemy fire, a senior U.S. military official said Wednesday.

Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins, deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military believes the aircraft was brought down by small arms fire, and the roadside bomb that killed a response team headed to the crash site was not the newer, armor-piercing explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, that have killed hundreds of U.S. soldiers.

Speaking to Pentagon reporters, Wiggins called the assault a "complex attack." He also said the military continues to "adjust our flight maneuvering and our routes in order to not become predictable and in order to make it more difficult" for the enemy.

Two soldiers from Task Force Lightning were killed in the helicopter crash, and six others died in the roadside bomb ambush as they raced to the rescue.

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