EXCERPTS
Sixteen U.S. troops died in the three military chopper crashes,
and five employees of the
Blackwater private security company were killed
when their helicopter came under heavy fire
January 23 in eastern Baghdad.
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Seven people were killed Wednesday
when a Marine CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter
went down outside Baghdad during
"routine operations," the U.S. military said.
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It was the fifth U.S. helicopter to go down
in Iraq in almost three weeks.
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Also Wednesday, three children were killed
and 12 civilians were wounded when insurgents
fired three mortar rounds in Mzerat,
a village north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
