An Apache helicopter that crashed southwest of Baghdad Saturday was believed to have been shot down and the two crew members were presumed dead, the U.S. military said Sunday. On Saturday, a US statement said the helicopter went down about 5:30 p.m. during a mission southwest of the capital.
Two American soldiers were killed late Saturday by a roadside bomb attack in central Baghdad, the army confirmed.
A Marine, meanwhile, died Friday during combat operations in Anbar province west of baghdad, the U.S. command said. The military also announced the death of another U.S. soldier during an operation in northern Kirkuk province. The soldier died from "non-battle related injuries" sustained in the operation Thursday.
At least 29 American troops were killed last month, the second-lowest monthly total since the war began three years ago. However, about 900 Iraqi civilians died at the same month, up from about 700 the month before, according to military statistics and the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, an independent organization that tracks deaths.
In other incidents, six men died in a blast inside a house in the southern outskirts of Baghdad, while gunmen destroyed a small Shiite mosque east of Baquba, police said. Gunmen also assassinated a Sunni Arab sheikh, Abdul-Minaam Awad, in his village of Zobaa 40 miles west of Baghdad, a Sunni clerical association announced.
