Iraq Watch: May 15, 2006

U.S. Helicopter Shot Down South of Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents shot down a U.S. helicopter south of the capital near Youssifiyah killing two American soldiers aboard.

The downed chopper was involved in an offensive operation aimed at insurgents operating in the area. According to the U.S. military at least 40 militants were reported killed in separate forays in the area over the past two days.

The Mujahideen Shura Council, an umbrella militant organization consisting of eight insurgent groups including al-Qaida in Iraq, claimed responsibility for the downing of the helicopter in a statement posted on the Internet.

Youssifiyah is located at the northern tip of the oft-restive area known as the "Triangle of Death." The area, positioned just south of Baghdad, is composed of a volatile mix of Sunnis and Shiites and is often the scene of sectarian violence.

The influential Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS) decried the recent U.S.-led raids as "atrocit[ies]" and said that at least 25 civilians have been killed as a result of the offensive.

The U.S. military also announced that two Marines, assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7, were killed yesterday "due to enemy action" in Anbar province.

Meanwhile, near the increasingly uneasy Shiite city of Basra, eight Iraqi policemen were killed and 10 wounded by local tribesmen in clashes that erupted after attackers wearing police uniforms assassinated a leader of the Garmasha tribe.

Also in the southern part of the country, guerillas injured four British troops when they launched a mortar barrage against Camp Abu Naji located in the provincial capital of Amarah.

Elsewhere, three teachers and their driver were gunned down near Balad Ruz after militants ambushed their minibus northeast of Baghdad.

In Mosul, 225 miles north of the capital, an Iraqi policeman was killed and two others were wounded when a bomb exploded near a house where police were investigating the shooting deaths of six family members who were found executed earlier in the day.

Also, in Baghdad, authorities discovered five corpses, all shot to death, in a western district of the capital city.