The Hindu : International : Eight die in two Iraq air crashes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 01, 2005

International

International

Eight die in two Iraq air crashes

Atul Aneja

Kidnapped Governor of Anbar province found dead; Sunni-Kurdish clashes in Kirkuk

MANAMA: American-led occupation forces have continued to suffer casualties in Iraq with four U.S. aviators and four Italians dying in two separate air crashes.

Apart from the Americans, one Iraqi officer was also killed when an Iraqi Air Force plane went down near Jalawla, close to Iranian border. The cause of the crash is still not known, but it is possible that a sandstorm might have led to the disaster.

Two Italian pilots and another two gunmen were killed when their AB-412 military helicopter crashed near Nasiriyah, Italian military spokesman Fabio Mattiassi said.

Twenty-six Italians security personnel including secret agent Nicola Calipari have so far been killed following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

In related violence, the kidnapped Governor of Iraq's Anbar province, Raja Nawaf has been found dead along with his suspected captors after a clash with U.S. forces. His body was found tied to a gas canister in a house west of Baghdad, an official spokesman said. Nawaf had been abducted on May 10.

"Injury not serious"

They had also claimed that the Al-Qaeda head in Iraq, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi had been seriously wounded during an attack in Al Qaim near the Syrian border, and might have fled the country.

However, Zarqawi, in an audio taped message has hit back by saying that his injury was not serious, and that, he was commanding his fighters from inside Iraq. The Jordanian born militant also asserted that his followers had defeated U.S. troops in the battle that raged at Al Qaim earlier this month.

As the security situation in Iraq deteriorates, ethnic and intra-religious clashes are on the rise, encouraging separatism in many areas.

Ahmed Al- Barazanchi, a senior Kurdish official was shot dead on Monday following the assassination of a moderate Sunni Muslim tribal leader, Sheik Sabhan Khalaf al-Jibouri, who had close ties to Iraqi Kurds in the northern oil-city of Kirkuk.

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