Iraqi Ambassador: 3 US Helicopters Shot down over Iraq - 21 March, 2003

Iraqi Ambassador to Russia Abbas Khalaf has today announced that 3 US helicopters were downed over Iraq last night. He said that 12 British and 4 US soldiers were killed in the incidents. The US claims that the helicopter crash which killed 16 people took place over Kuwait and was the result of a technical failure.

Khalaf also announced that Iraqi rocket forces launched an attack on the US air base in Kuwait on Thursday and 'dealt it a serious blow.' He said that the US used 70 cruise missiles in its bombardment of Iraq, which wounded 36 people, including women and elderly people. 'This contradicts statements made by the US before the war that there would not be any victims among the civilian population. The announcement about casualties is not anti-American propaganda - we have documentary evidence,' said the ambassador.