U.S. Military Helicopter Crashes in Iraq With Seven Aboard

[FarCenter]

WASHINGTON — An American military helicopter crashed Thursday near the city of Qaim in western Iraq, killing some of the seven service members aboard, United States officials said.

It was unclear why the aircraft, an HH-60 Pave Hawk, went down, the officials added. They did not rule out ground fire, and they could not confirm how many people had been killed.

One official said the helicopter was not on a combat operation but was ferrying troops.

Maj. Adrian J. Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said Thursday night that rescue personnel had been deployed and that the crash, in Anbar Province, near Syria, was under investigation.

The HH-60 is a modified version of the Black Hawk helicopter. It is often flown by the Air Force for medical evacuation missions, and is used by Special Operations pararescue specialists.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/15/us/politics/us-military-helicopter-crashes-in-iraq-with-seven-aboard.html

[njhoneybadger]

1. Is it possible Russian troops could be responsible for this?