12 killed as Black Hawk helicopter crashes in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A U.S. Black Hawk helicopter crashed in northern Iraq, killing all 12 Americans believed to be aboard, while five U.S. Marines were slain in separate weekend attacks, the military said Sunday.\nThe deaths came as Iraqi police said a kidnapped French engineer was released by his captors.\nThe UH-60 Black Hawk crashed just before midnight Saturday about seven miles east of the insurgent stronghold of Tal Afar, a northern city near the Syrian border, officials said. The military also did not say what caused the crash.\nIt was the deadliest helicopter crash in Iraq since a CH-53 Sea Stallion crashed in bad weather in western Iraq on Jan. 26, 2005, killing 31 U.S. service members.\nIn Saturday's crash, records indicated that eight passengers and four crew members were aboard -- all Americans, officials said, but they did not say how many were members of the U.S. military.\nThe Black Hawk was part of a two-helicopter team flying between bases when communications were lost, military authorities said. A search-and-rescue operation was launched and the helicopter was found about noon Sunday.\nThree Marines were killed Sunday by small arms attacks in Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, the military said.\nOn Saturday, two Marines were killed by roadside bombs in separate incidents, the military said. One blast occurred about 50 miles west of Baghdad, while the other happened about 35 miles north of the capital.\nWith the latest Marine deaths, at least 2,199 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the war in 2003, according to an Associated Press count. That toll did not include those killed aboard the Black Hawk.\nAlso Sunday, five people were killed in separate attacks in Baghdad, including a policeman killed by a suicide car bomber that targeted an Interior Ministry patrol. Seven others were wounded in the attack.\nThe Association of Muslim Scholars, a major Sunni clerical group, said U.S. troops raided their headquarters at Baghdad's Umm al-Qura mosque before dawn Sunday. The association is thought by some to be close to some insurgent groups.\n"The Americans bear the responsibility for this assault," said Sheik Younis al-Ekaidi. "This crime came as punishment for the association's position on the occupation and its position on the latest elections."\nA U.S. military official said the raid was conducted because of a tip from an Iraqi citizen that there was "significant terrorist-related activity in the building" and six people were detained.\n"The time of day was chosen to minimize impact on the mosque, a time when there wouldn't be worshippers, and a minimum number of people in the surrounding area," said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson.\nThe French engineer, Bernard Planche, was pushed out of a car near a checkpoint in a Baghdad suburb, apparently freed by nervous captors who then fled, Iraqi police said Sunday.\nPlanche, 52, was kidnapped Dec. 5 on his way to work at a water plant. He was found Saturday night near the checkpoint in the Abu Ghraib neighborhood, said Maj. Falah al-Mohammadawi.\nPresident Jacques Chirac "is delighted by the happy outcome," France's presidential Élysée Palace said. He personally gave the news to Planche's daughter, Isabelle, and his brother, Gilles.\nPlanche worked for a non-governmental organization called AACCESS. His captors had released a video of him sitting between two armed men. Arab news channel Al-Arabiya, which broadcast an excerpt of the video, said the militants denounced the "illegal French presence" in Iraq and demanded the withdrawal of French troops from the country. France has not sent forces to Iraq.\nThe name of a previously unknown militant group, called "Monitoring For Iraq," was shown in the corner of the video.\nInsurgents have kidnapped more than 250 foreigners in the past two years, aiming to force U.S.-led troops to leave Iraq or prevent Arab nations from strengthening their ties with the Baghdad government.\nIn an effort to help draw Sunni Arabs into the political process as a way to dampen the violence, U.S. officials for months have been communicating directly or through channels with members of the disaffected minority connected to the insurgency.\nA Western diplomat on Saturday reported a recent "uptick" in those contacts.\nThose insurgents "sense that the political process does protect the Sunni community's interest," the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.\nA similar uptick occurred after the parliamentary elections Jan. 30, 2005, he said.\nA U.S. official said the coalition does not talk to foreign terrorists or supporters of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime but said it was important to isolate extremists from the broader Sunni Arab community. He also spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.\nThe Iraqi government is talking directly to all militant groups who are willing to communicate, but no commitments have been made to any of them, said Wafiq al-Samarie, an adviser on security affairs to President Jalal Talabani.\n"Yes, many groups are communicating with us. We are listening to them and providing them with advices with open arms and transparency," he said.\nAl-Samarie, a Sunni Arab and a former intelligence chief under Saddam Hussein, spoke to reporters after a meeting between Talabani and Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the Sunni Arab Iraqi Accordance Front.\nIraq's fractious political groups, meanwhile, could form a coalition government within weeks, Talabani said Saturday.