Irak — Iraqis Help U.S. Troops Recover Helicopter

WASHINGTON, May 17, 2010 — A team of Iraqi police and U.S. forces secured and recov­ered a dis­abled U.S. heli­copter today after it was forced to make a pre­cau­tion­ary land­ing May 15.

The team secured the land­ing site and repaired the air­craft before U.S. pilots flew it back to Tallil Air Base. 

“We would like to thank our Iraqi part­ners for their out­stand­ing assis­tance,” said Army Col. James Rainey, com­man­der of the 4th Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade at Con­tin­gency Oper­at­ing Base Adder. “The quick response from the 6th Emer­gency Response Unit was instru­men­tal in the suc­cess of the recov­ery operation.” 

The air­craft was con­duct­ing its dai­ly mis­sion when it made a pre­cau­tion­ary land­ing because of a mechan­i­cal prob­lem, offi­cials said. No one was injured dur­ing the land­ing. The inci­dent was not com­bat-relat­ed and is under inves­ti­ga­tion, offi­cials added. 

In oth­er news from Iraq, Iraqi forces killed a sus­pect­ed al-Qai­da in Iraq mem­ber dur­ing a com­bined oper­a­tion north­east of Tikrit yesterday. 

Iraqi forces and U.S. advi­sors stopped the man’s vehi­cle to arrest him for his alleged facil­i­ta­tion role in vehi­cle-bomb attacks on civil­ians in Kirkuk. He was shot and killed when he drew a pis­tol as the secu­ri­ty team approached. 

In Mosul yes­ter­day, Iraqi forces arrest­ed two sus­pect­ed asso­ciates of an al-Qai­da in Iraq oper­a­tive linked to ter­ror­ist attacks against Iraqi civil­ians, secu­ri­ty forces and coali­tion forces dur­ing a com­bined oper­a­tion with U.S. advisors. 

Source:
Com­piled from U.S. Forces Iraq News Releases