14 US soldiers killed in Iraq helicopter crash

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Fourteen American soldiers were killed in northern Iraq on Wednesday when their Blackhawk transport helicopter crashed during a pre-dawn flight, US command said in a statement.

"Initial indications are that the aircraft experienced a mechanical malfunction. There were no indications of hostile fire," the military said, adding that all four crew and 10 passengers died.

Two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters from Task Force Lightning, which operates in northern Iraq, were on the night mission when one of them went down, according to a statement from the unit's headquarters in Tikrit.

The latest deaths took American military losses since the US-led invasion to 3,719, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures.

American forces in Iraq make constant use of a huge fleet of helicopters, and are increasingly dependent on them to avoid the roadside bombs laid by insurgents and militia fighters along land routes.

The worst single US chopper crash was on November 15, 2003, when two Blackhawks collided near Mosul in northern Iraq, killing 17 soldiers.

In January and Fenruary this year there was a spate of crashes, including some shot down by an insurgent cell which deployed anti-aircraft crews north of Baghdad. US forces have since hunted down those gunners.