Baghdad, Iraq – Four U.S. Marines died when a Sea Knight helicopter plunged into a lake in volatile Anbar province, the military said Monday, raising to 13 the number of American troops killed during a bloody weekend in Iraq.
It was the second military aircraft to go down in a week in Anbar, a stronghold of Sunni insurgents, although the military said mechanical problems rather than gunfire had forced the emergency landing Sunday.
“The pilots maintained control of the aircraft the entire time,” the military said.
A Marine was pulled from the water, but attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful. The bodies of three missing Marines were found in a subsequent search, the military said. Twelve other passengers survived.
Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman, declined to provide details about the twin-rotor CH-46 helicopter’s mission or the reason for its forced landing, saying the incident was under investigation.
The deaths came on a weekend in which nine other U.S. troops were killed, including five in Anbar. The weekend’s violence pushed the total number of American service members who have died since the war started in March 2003 to at least 2,901.
A U.S. fighter jet also crashed last week in a field, killing the Air Force pilot.
Iraqi state TV, meanwhile, reported that Iraqi police found half a ton of explosives, including suicide belts and roadside bombs, in Anbar – a province the size of North Carolina that stretches west from Baghdad to the borders of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
At least 13 people were killed Monday in attacks nationwide. The victims included Nabil Ibrahim al-Dulaimi, a 36-year-old Sunni news editor with the private, independent Dijlah radio station, who was gunned down in his car.
Police also found 56 bodies in Baghdad and the province of Diyala, northeast of the capital. Forty-eight of the victims were handcuffed, blindfolded and shot before they were dumped in two different areas of the capital.
Update
Developments:
Iraqi police find a large cache of explosives, including suicide belts and roadside bombs, in Anbar province.
In Baghdad, American forces kill two insurgents and detain six in a raid on buildings where insurgents with ties to al-Qaeda in Iraq were making car bombs.
Near Beiji, an Iraqi soldier opens fire on protesters who tried to break through a coalition checkpoint, wounding three.
In Washington, President Bush tells one of Iraq’s leading Shiite politicians, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, that the U.S. is not satisfied with progress in Iraq.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan declares Sunday that Iraq is suffering a civil war, while U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad and U.S. Gen. George W. Casey Jr. – the top American military commander in Iraq – issue a statement denouncing the surge of violence in the capital.
Casualties:
Four U.S. Marines die when their helicopter makes a forced landing in a lake in Anbar province.
At least 13 people are killed in attacks nationwide, including a Sunni news editor with a private, independent radio station.
Police find 56 bodies in Baghdad and the province of Diyala.
