FALLUJAH, Iraq — Targeting American forces with newaudacity, insurgents hiding in a date palm grove shot down aChinook helicopter carrying dozens of American troops Sunday,killing 15 and wounding 21 in the deadliest strike against U.S.forces since they invaded Iraq in March.
Witnesses said the attackers used missiles — a sign of theincreasing sophistication of Iraq's elusive anti-U.S. fighters.
Three other Americans were killed in separate attacks Sunday,including one 1st Armored Division soldier in Baghdad and two U.S.civilians working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Fallujah.All three were victims of roadside bombs, the military said.
It was the deadliest day for U.S. troops since March 23 —the first week of the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein —and a major escalation in the campaign to drive the U.S.-ledcoalition out of the country.
The giant helicopter was ferrying the soldiers on their way forleave outside Iraq when two missiles streaked into the sky andslammed into the rear of the aircraft, witnesses told TheAssociated Press. It crashed in flames in farmers' fields west ofBaghdad.
''It's clearly a tragic day for America,'' Defense SecretaryDonald H. Rumsfeld said in Washington. ''In a long, hard war, we'regoing to have tragic days. But they're necessary. They're part of awar that's difficult and complicated.''
Like past attacks on U.S. forces and a string of suicidebombings that killed dozens in Baghdad the past week, U.S.coalition officials blamed either Saddam loyalists or foreignfighters for the strike outside Fallujah, a center of Sunni Muslimresistance to the U.S. occupation.
President Bush was at his Texas ranch, out of public sightSunday. ''Our will and resolve are unshakable,'' said a White Housespokesman traveling with him.
L. Paul Bremer, the head of the occupation in Iraq, repeateddemands that Syria and Iran prevent fighters from crossing theirborders into Iraq.
''They could do a much better job of helping us seal that borderand keeping terrorist out of Iraq,'' he told CNN. The ''enemies offreedom'' in Iraq ''are using more sophisticated techniques toattack our forces.''
U.S. officials have been warning of the danger of shoulder-firedmissiles, thousands of which are now scattered from Saddam'sarsenals, and such missiles are believed to have downed two U.S.copters since May 1. Those two crashes — of smallerhelicopters — wounded only one American.
The loaded-down Chinook was a dramatic new target. Theinsurgents have been steadily advancing in their weaponry, firstusing homemade roadside bombs, then rocket-fired grenades inambushes on American patrols, and vehicles stuffed with explosivesand detonated by suicide attackers.
In the fields south of Fallujah, some villagers proudly showedoff blackened pieces of the Chinook's wreckage to arrivingreporters.
Though a few villagers tried to help, many celebrated word ofthe helicopter downing, as well as a fresh attack on U.S. soldiersin Fallujah itself. Two American civilians working under contractfor the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were killed and one wasinjured in the explosion of a roadside bomb, the military said.
''This was a new lesson from the resistance, a lesson to thegreedy aggressors,'' one Fallujah resident, who would not give hisname, said of the helicopter downing. ''They'll never be safe untilthey get out of our country,'' he said of the Americans.
The downed copter was one of two Chinooks flying out information from an air base in Habbaniyah, about 10 miles from thecrash site, carrying troops to Baghdad on route for rest andrecreation — R&R.
The missiles semed to have been fired from a palm grove about500 yards away, Thaer Ali, 21, said. At least one hit the Chinook,which came down in a field in the farming village of Hasai, a fewmiles south of Fallujah, witnesses said.
The missiles flashed toward the helicopter from the rear, asusual with heat-seeking ground-fired missiles. The most commonmodel in the former Iraqi army inventory was the Russian-made SA-7,also known as Strelas.
Hours later, thick smoke rose from the blackened, smolderinghulk as U.S. soldiers swarmed over the crash site, evacuating theinjured, retrieving evidence and cordoning off the area.
Yassin Mohamed said he heard the explosion and ran out of hishouse, a half-mile away.
''I saw the helicopter burning. I ran toward it because I wantedto help put out the fire, but couldn't get near because of Americansoldiers,'' he said.
The U.S. military would not confirm that the aircraft was struckby a missile, but a spokesman, Col. William Darley, said witnessesreported seeing ''missile trails.''
In Baghdad, Darley said the CH-47 helicopter belonged to the12th Aviation Brigade, a Germany-based unit that supports the 82ndAirborne Division Task Force operating west of Baghdad.
The two Chinooks were carrying a total of more than 50passengers to the U.S. base at Baghdad International Airport, fromwhich they were to fly out on leave, U.S. officials said. Darleysaid some of the casualties were from medical units, but officialsdid not provide a breakdown of their units. A spokesman at FortCarson, Colo., said the Chinooks were carrying soldiers from FortCarson; Fort Sill, Okla.; Fort Campbell, Ky.; and Fort Hood,Texas.
Lt. Col. Thomas Budzyna said some Fort Carson troops were amongthe injured but he did not know the units or bases of the othercasualties.
''Many were looking forward to a break in the action,'' Budzynasaid. ''Unfortunately, they faced something else.''
The Pentagon announced Friday it was expanding the rest andrecreation leave program for troops in Iraq. As of Sunday, it said,the number of soldiers departing daily to the United States via atransit facility in neighboring Kuwait would be increased from 280to 480.
Fallujah lies in the so-called ''Sunni Triangle,'' a regionnorth and west of Baghdad were most attacks on American forces havetaken place. The downing and the soldier's death in Baghdad broughtto at least 138 the number of American soldiers killed by hostilefire since President Bush declared an end to combat on May 1.
Around 376 U.S. service members have died since the beginning ofmilitary operations in Iraq.
The death toll Sunday surpasses one of the deadliest singleattacks during the Iraq war: the March 23 ambush of the 507thMaintenance Company, in which 11 soldiers were killed, nine werewounded and seven captured, including Pfc. Jessica Lynch. A totalof 28 Americans around Iraq -- including the casualties from theambush — died on that day, the deadliest for U.S. troopsduring the Iraq war.
Meanwhile, in Abu Ghraib on Baghdad's western edge, U.S. troopsclashed with townspeople Sunday. Local Iraqis said U.S. troopsarrived in the morning and ordered people to disperse from themarketplace. Someone then tossed a grenade at the Americans, whoopened fire, witnesses said.
The newest deaths capped a week of extraordinary carnage in andaround Baghdad. On Oct. 26, a rocket slammed into a hotel housinghundreds of coalition staffers, killing one and injuring 15.
A day later, four coordinated suicide bombings in Baghdad killedthree dozen people and wounded more than 200. Daily attacks againstU.S. forces have increased in the last three weeks from an averageof the mid-20s to 33.
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