- (Staff and agencies) -- Thirty-one US marines were killed
when the helicopter transporting them crashed in the desert in west Iraq
today, the most deaths in one incident since the US-led invasion of Iraq
in 2003.
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- A Pentagon source said the helicopter was a CH-53 Sea
Stallion, which is normally configured to carry 37 passengers, but can
take up to 55. There was no immediate word on how many people were on
board.
-
- The helicopter went down near the town of Rutba, about
220 miles west of Baghdad, while conducting security operations, the
military
said in a statement.
-
- It was not clear whether it was shot down or crashed
in an accident.
-
- The aircraft was transporting personnel from the 1st
Marine Division. A search and rescue team has reached the site and an
investigation
into what caused the crash is underway.
-
- The US military has lost at least 33 helicopters since
the start of the Iraq conflict in March 2003, according to a study by the
Brookings Institution. At least 20 of them were brought down by hostile
fire.
-
- The deadliest previous single incident involving US
troops
so far took place on November 15 2003, when two Black Hawk helicopters
crashed in Mosul after colliding while trying to avoid ground fire, killing
17 US soldiers and wounding five.
-
- Last month, a suicide bomb exploded at a mess tent in
a base near Mosul, killing 22 people including 14 US soldiers and three
American contractors.
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- Election curfew extended
-
- The Iraqi government today announced it would ban travel
between provinces and extend the hours of a curfew as part of heightened
security measures being imposed for this weekend's elections.
-
- Falah al-Naqib, the Iraqi interior minister, said the
curfew - currently set to run between 8pm and 6am - would be brought
forward
by an hour to begin at 7pm.
-
- It would be enforced from Friday evening until Monday,
the day after voting. During that period, only vehicles with special
permits
would be allowed to travel between Iraq's 18 provinces.
-
- The government has already announced plans to close
Baghdad
international airport and seal the nation's borders during the election
period. Weapons will be banned, and Mr Naqib said rewards would be given
to Iraqis who turned in "terrorists".
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- Zarqawi 'aide' arrested
-
- Mr Naqib also announced the arrest of an alleged aide
to al-Qaida's purported leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The arrested
man - identified as Khamees Mohsen al-Egaily - was said to have been
involved
in explosions and murders.
-
- Mr Naqib said the government was determined to hold the
election throughout the country, regardless of the threat from insurgents.
However, militants continued their campaign of violence today, staging
attacks against US forces, schools intended to be used as polling stations,
and political party offices.
-
- Three car bombs exploded in Riyadh, around 40 miles
south-west
of Kirkuk, killing at least five people, including three policemen. One
of the car bombs targeted a US convoy, but police said there were no
reports
of casualties. The other bombs targeted a police station and the mayor's
office, and Reuters quoted police sources as putting the death toll at
nine people.
-
- Four US soldiers were injured in a separate car bombing
in Saddam Hussein's hometown, Tikrit, the US military said. Witnesses also
reported a US convoy coming under attack on the road to Baghdad airport,
with at least one vehicle being destroyed.
-
- In the Sadr City area of Baghdad, Iraqi forces, backed
by US troops, mounted an overnight raid on a Shia mosque, detaining up
to 25 followers of the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, police and the
cleric's
supporters said.
-
- In separate operations, US troops found at least six
bombs at different locations around Baghdad, the military said, while Iraqi
police discovered two more devices in the Shia holy city of Najaf.
-
- Insurgents attacked the Baquba offices of the Communist
party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the United Iraqi Gathering
with heavy machine gun fire. A traffic policeman was killed and four
bystanders
wounded in the attacks, police spokesman Hassan Ahmed said.
-
- Militants carried out overnight attacks on at least two
Baghdad schools scheduled to be used as polling stations in the
elections.
-
- Residents of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, reported that
clashes
between US troops and rebels had erupted when a US patrol came under attack
from rocket-propelled grenades. One Iraqi was killed and two wounded,
according
to Dr Dhiaa al-Hiti of the Ramadi general hospital.
-
- In the northern city of Mosul, insurgents released a
video recording apparently showing three Iraqi captives. On the tape, they
said they worked for the Iraqi electoral commission.
-
- The footage, seen by Reuters correspondents, showed the
three men sitting in a room with weapons being pointed at them. One of
the hostages, identified in the video as Abdul-Khaliq Ahmed, said he worked
for the electoral commission in the province including Mosul, and was the
administrative director of an election office in the city.
-
- Two militants wearing balaclavas also appeared in the
tape without the hostages. One held a pistol while reading a statement,
and the other posed for the camera by looking through the target sight
of a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
-
- "We are mujahideen in the province of Nineveh. What
they call elections have no basis in the Islamic religion and that's why
we will hit all election centres," the militant said. The militants
did not threaten to kill the election workers in their statement.
-
- Several insurgent groups in Iraq, including the group
led by Zarqawi, have declared war on the electoral process.
-
- The election will be Iraq's first multi-party poll in
half a century. Voters will elect a 275-member assembly that will pick
Iraq's new transitional government and draft a permanent constitution for
the country.
-
- Despite the continuing violence, the prime minister,
Tony Blair, today indicated in an interview with the Financial Times that
Britain and the US could begin handing over large parts of Iraq to the
country's security forces after the election.
-
- Mr Blair would not be drawn on a deadline for withdrawal,
but told the FT that Washington and London were set to agree
"timelines"
with the new government that would indicate the pace at which Iraqi forces
could take over less difficult areas of the country.
-
- "Both ourselves and the Iraqis want us to leave
as soon as possible. The question is, what is as soon as possible? And
the answer is when the Iraqi forces have the capability to do the
job,"
he said.
-
- "There are areas where we would be able to hand
over to those Iraqi forces. Remember, 14 out of the 18 provinces in Iraq
are relatively peaceful and stable."
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2005
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/
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