BAGHDAD — The U.S. military said seven American soldiers were killed early today when their helicopter went down in southern Iraq.
A U.S. statement said the CH-47 Chinook helicopter made a “hard landing” shortly after midnight about 60 miles west of Basra. The Chinook was a part of a convoy flying from Kuwait to the U.S. military base at Balad.
A spokesman for the Multi-National Force-Iraq said hostile fire was not suspected. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to provide details.
The cause of the accident is under investigation.
On Wednesday, gunmen killed a Sunni assistant to the governor of Iraq’s Ninevah province, the latest in a series of attacks that have marred the holy month of Ramadan.
Shamil Younis, an engineer who handled technical affairs for Gov. Duraid Kashmola, was killed in a drive-by shooting as he was walking home after finishing prayers at a nearby mosque in Mosul, police said. The attack occurred shortly after iftar, the meal that breaks the sunrise-to-sunset fast during Ramadan.
The governor, also a Sunni, confirmed the slaying and promised an investigation. He called it “a brutal crime against this innocent, good man.”
Nobody claimed responsibility for the killing of Younis, but it comes as insurgents are making a stand in Mosul after being routed in Baghdad and other urban centers.
The deadliest attack Wednesday was a double car bombing in western Baghdad, which killed at least eight people and wounded 20, a policeman said.
Iraqi lawmakers failed to agree Wednesday on a new U.N. proposal aimed at breaking the deadlock over a law paving the way for provincial elections, which the U.S. considers key to building peace among the country’s rival religious and ethnic communities.
The balloting has been delayed because of Kurdish objections to power-sharing proposals for oil-rich Kirkuk, which Kurds want to annex into their semiautonomous region.
The U.N. issued a plan that would enable elections to be held in all provinces except Kirkuk’s, and would create a committee to study the issue, lawmakers said. But Arabs and Turkomen raised new objections.
Parliament adjourned until today, when it will try again to overcome the impasse.
The United Nations has warned further delay could prevent the balloting from being held this year.
Separately, a U.S. soldier died of noncombat-related causes Wednesday, and an investigation into the cause of death was underway, the military said.
