Iraq crash survivor shot dead on video

BAGHDAD, Iraq — He lived through a missile attack and helicopter crash that killed 10 others on board, including six American bodyguards for U.S. diplomats in Iraq. But the attackers soon found the survivor, sprawled on his back in tall grass near the crash site. Within moments, he too was dead.

Insurgents had brought down the Russian-made helicopter yesterday during a commercial flight from Baghdad to Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein 100 miles north of the Iraqi capital. The chartered flight was believed to be the first civilian aircraft shot down in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion two years ago.

An Internet statement by a group identifying itself as the Islamic Army in Iraq was accompanied by a video that showed the repeated shooting of the man after he was forced to stand up and walk. The video showed burning wreckage just before the shooting.

"One of the crew members was captured and killed," the statement said.

On the video, the man spoke English with an accent and was wearing a blue flight suit, indicating he was one of the three Bulgarian crew members. Two Fijian helicopter security guards were also onboard the flight.

APTN / AP This TV image shows the wreckage of the commercial helicopter carrying 11 civilians, including six Americans who were helping protect U.S. diplomats, that was shot down yesterday near Baghdad, Iraq.

The video also showed two charred bodies near the burning wreckage, about 12 miles north of Baghdad.

The authenticity of the video, posted on a Web forum often used by militant groups, could not be confirmed. A U.S. Embassy official in Baghdad said he had no knowledge that anyone onboard survived the crash and was killed later.

The Islamic Army statement said it killed the survivor "in revenge for the Muslims who have been killed in cold blood in the mosques of tireless Fallujah before the eyes of the world and on television screens, without anyone condemning them." It was apparently referring to the shooting by a U.S. soldier of a wounded Iraqi in a Fallujah mosque on Nov. 13 during a U.S. offensive in the city.

The Mi-8 helicopter was shot out of the air as growing numbers of contractors, diplomats and other civilian officials turn to aircraft to avoid insurgent attacks on Iraq's roads.

North Carolina employer

The downing is part of a surge of attacks that has caused heavy casualties in recent weeks, ending a relative calm since January elections. In the most recent violence, two U.S. Marines and at least five other people, including two foreign civilians, were killed in attacks Wednesday and yesterday.

The six Americans onboard the downed helicopter were employed by Blackwater Security Consulting, a subsidiary of North Carolina-based security contractor Blackwater USA, which had four employees slain and mutilated by insurgents in Fallujah a year ago.

The Americans were assisting the Bureau of Diplomatic Security in protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq.

"They played a critical role in our effort to bring a better way of life to the people of a country who have not experienced freedom and opportunity for many years," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.

Blackwater said another of its guards was killed and four were wounded yesterday when a bomb was detonated next to one of its armored personnel carriers near Ramadi.

Merciless flurry of shots

In the video, militants come across the injured man in the flight suit. "Stand up! Stand up!" an insurgent orders the man, who reaches out and says, "Give me a hand."

Then, apparently referring to a fractured leg, he says, "It's broken."

The militants — seen only briefly — tell him to stand up. "Weapons? Weapons?" the gunmen ask him in Arabic as he stands uneasily.

They tell him, "Go!" and he starts to hobble away with his back to the camera. Then there are voices and he turns to the side, holding up a hand. Then the shooting begins, bullets hitting his body as he falls backward into the grass. The insurgents can be heard shouting, "Allahu akbar," or "God is great," as he goes down. More bursts of gunfire then hit the body.

Ereli, who spoke before the video was posted, said he could not confirm the cause of the crash.

However, the Bulgarian Defense Ministry said the helicopter was struck by missile fire.

The aircraft was owned by Heli Air of Bulgaria and chartered by Toronto-based SkyLink Aviation. It was flying to Tikrit from Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone, home to Iraq's Parliament and many diplomats.

Ereli said the U.S. government routinely hires contractors to provide security for diplomats, facilities or the activities of people connected with the government.

While the helicopter crash was believed to be the first civilian aircraft brought down by insurgents, they hit a plane operated by the global-delivery service DHL with a shoulder-fired missile near Baghdad airport Nov. 22, 2003. It was forced to make an emergency landing with its wing aflame. The three crew members were unhurt.

On March 13, two U.S. security contractors working for Blackwater Security were killed and a third was wounded in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad on the main road to Hillah.

Last year, four Blackwater employees were killed in Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, and their bodies were burned and mutilated. Two of the corpses were hanged from a bridge over the Euphrates River. The deaths touched off a U.S. Marine assault on insurgents in the city.

Meanwhile, in the city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, about 700 Shiite Muslims staged a protest after 18 more bodies rose to the surface of the Tigris River, among dozens that have surfaced in the past two days.

Some leaders of Iraq's new governing coalition led by Shiites and Kurds have said the corpses — at least 76 in all — are proof of a rumored Sunni Muslim extremist campaign to target Iraq's newly ascendant Shiite majority. Health officials suggested yesterday, however, that the sudden appearances may be the result of a spring thaw, bringing up victims killed over a violent winter, The Associated Press reported.