RPG attack forces US helicopter down

A US helicopter made an emergency lading near the Iraqi town of Fallujah today, apparently after being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

The military said an OH-58 Kiowa observation helicopter from the 82nd Airborne Division made a "controlled landing". A spokesman said he had no information on casualties nor any further details about the incident.

Omar Ali, an APTV reporter, said two helicopters were flying in formation near the town, about 35 miles west of Baghdad, when one was struck by a grenade fired from the ground.

It went down immediately in an open field, Ali said. The aircraft appeared structurally intact, but smoke was billowing from it.

Two other helicopters with red crosses emblazoned on their sides landed nearby a few minutes later, he said.

On November 2, sixteen soldiers died when insurgents shot down a Chinook transport helicopter near Fallujah, a hotspot of anti-American resistance since the end of the war.

In the deadliest single incident so far for US soldiers, two Black Hawk helicopters collided and crashed in Mosul on November 17, killing 17 soldiers. US commanders said the crash was caused by ground fire.

The Kiowa, a small observation and reconnaissance helicopter commonly seen in the skies over Iraq’s cities, carries a single pilot and as many as four passengers.