5 killed in Chinook crash in Iraq; No word on cause or injuries

Above: CH-47 Chinook helicopters land outside of the village of Abd al Hasan to take U.S. and Iraqi Army soldiers back to Forward Operating Base McHenry after the completion of their part in a combat operation in June.

Five U.S. service personnel were killed when a military transport helicopter crashed during a routine flight west of Baghdad on Tuesday.

The crash takes the death toll for the U.S. military to 10 in the past two days.

The U.S. military said the CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed near its al-Taqaddum air base outside Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, while conducting a "routine post-maintenance check flight".

There was no indication whether it was shot down. An investigation is under way.

The deaths of the five on board the helicopter takes the total number of U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein to at least 3,699.

Read the rest at Reuters

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U.S. helicopter goes down near air base west of Baghdad, no word on casualties