BLACKHAWKS COLLIDE
NYT reports,
Two American Black Hawk helicopters collided in midair and crashed Saturday evening in the northern city of Mosul, killing at least 17 of the American soldiers aboard and injuring 5 others, officials said. One other soldier was reported missing.
American officials said the collision occurred when one of the helicopters came under hostile fire from the ground and swerved upward to avoid it, driving its rotor into the second helicopter.
The Black Hawks, traveling after sunset, went down in a residential neighborhood on the western side of the city. It was unclear Saturday evening if there were any casualties among Iraqis living in the neighborhood where the crash occurred.
If initial estimates prove correct, the two Black Hawks that crashed Saturday would be the fourth and the fifth to be brought down as a result of hostile fire in the past three weeks.
