While Nero Surges
By But were any schools painted today?
On one of the deadliest days for United States forces since the Iraq war began, an American helicopter crashed in a Sunni area north of Baghdad on Saturday, killing all 13 aboard, the United States military said. Iraqi officials in the area said it had been shot down, though there was no immediate confirmation from American officials.
In separate episodes, five American soldiers were killed and three wounded in a battle with gunmen who attacked the local governor’s office in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, and two soldiers died from other attacks, military officials said.
If all those on the helicopter were Americans, 20 American servicemen died Saturday. On the worst day of the war for American forces, Jan. 26, 2005, 37 American service members died. Thirty-one of them died when a Marine helicopter crashed in the western desert, and six others in combat that day.