20 Killed by Suicide Blasts; US Chopper Destroyed in Iraq
'Pakistan Times' Monitoring Desk

BAGHDAD (Iraq): At least 20 people including 5 police officials were killed Wednesday and dozens others injured in different incidents of suicide attacks and bomb blasts in Iraq.

A U.S. Black Hawk helicopter made a 'hard landing' north of Baghdad and the crew was recovered safely by a rescue chopper, a military spokesman said.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said investigators were looking into the reason the Black Hawk went down. He said the airmen were picked up by another helicopter, but gave no further details

At least seven U.S. helicopters have crashed or been forced down by hostile fire since Jan. 20, killing 28 troops and civilians.

A suicide car bomb exploded at a police checkpoint near a busy market in the holy city of Najaf, killing 13 people, and wounding 35 more, a police spokesman said.

Captain Hadi al-Najafi, an explosives expert, said police had been searching the bomber's car when it exploded. He said four policemen and two women were among the dead.

The bodies of a woman and a young child lay near the mangled wreckage of the car. The charred corpse of the bomber was nearby.

With a few major exceptions, Najaf, home to Iraq's most senior cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has been spared much of the violence rocking Baghdad and other areas where people of multiple ethnicities live side by side.

The U.S. military transferred Najaf province to Iraqi forces last December, though the move was largely symbolic as it had been largely under Iraqi control for some time because of religious sensitivities.

U.S. and Iraqi forces have launched a major security crackdown in Baghdad aimed at stemming bloodshed in the capital, which has been the epicentre of sectarian violence.

With the focus on Baghdad, there has been speculation that militants could move out of the city and target other areas where security is not so tight.

19 people were injured in a couple of blasts in Kirkuk. Among them, one was a car bomb and another was an explosion. The injured have been shifted to hospitals.

According to US forces, an American soldier was killed during clashes with resistant group in Al Anbar province.

According to an Arab TV, the police sources said that in a powerful explosion in a truck in Al Bia area of Baghdad, five people were killed and many others injured.●