US contractors killed after helicopter shot down

A COMMERCIAL helicopter contracted by the US government was shot down by missile fire north of the Iraqi capital yesterday, killing at least 11 people, including six American contractors, officials said.

The helicopter crashed after being struck by missile fire north of the Iraqi capital at 1.45pm local time (10.45 Irish time), the Defence Ministry said. All 11 on board were killed: six Americans, two bodyguards from the Philippines and the three-member Bulgarian crew, the transport ministry said.

The aircraft was hit by at least one surface-to-air missile, said Sotislav Bozhkov, a sales manager at Heli Air, the Bulgarian company that owns the Russian-built Mi-8 helicopter. Video footage showed burning wreckage scattered across a wide area about 12 miles north of Baghdad.

The US Embassy in Iraq confirmed that six Americans working for a security contractor were killed.

SkyLink Aviation Inc, the Canadian firm that chartered the aircraft, also said 11 people were killed. Paul Greenaway, air operations manager for the Toronto-based company, said from Baghdad that the helicopter was on its way to Tikrit, north of Baghdad, when it crashed.

He said it was too early to determine whether it was shot down, and that Iraqi aviation officials would begin an investigation today.

The helicopter had been chartered to SkyLink to transport personnel involved in Iraqi reconstruction. Heli Air manager Mihail Mihailov identified the Bulgarian crew as pilots Lyubomir Kostov and Georgi Naidenov, and board mechanic Stoyan Anchev. He did not identify the passengers.

The US military confirmed that the US defence department contracted the aircraft.

Bulgaria has a 460-member infantry battalion in the Iraqi city of Diwaniyah serving under Polish command, but Defence Ministry spokesman Vladimir Prelezov said no members of the Bulgarian military contingent were on board.

The battalion's mission ends in July, but the Bulgarian government has said its mission will be extended through the end of the year.

The Balkan country, which joined NATO last year, has lost seven soldiers in bomb attacks and shoot-outs with insurgents in Iraq. An eighth soldier was killed last March by US troops in a friendly-fire incident.