U.S. helicopter brought down in Iraq in the last two days' third attack on U.S. troops

A US military helicopter was brought down outside Al-Falluja in what was the third armed attack on the US troops stationed in Iraq in the last two days.

Witnesses said the incident took place in the small hours of May 27. An armed attack on a US roadblock on the outskirts of Al-Falluja, a town 50 kilometers west of Baghdad, killed one US soldier and wounded 7. A US helicopter that arrived to pick up the wounded was brought down with a hand-held grenade launcher.

Two of the attackers were killed, the witnesses said. The total death toll is yet unknown.

Yesterday, a US soldier was killed and 4 wounded when their convoy was attacked en route to the Baghdad international airport. On the same day, another soldier was killed in the neighborhood of Haditha, 360 kilometers west of Baghdad.

Armed attacks on the US troops can hardly be called the beginning of an organized resistance against the occupation. Nevertheless, anti-American moods have been visibly mounting, especially after the top brass made decisions to liquidate the Iraqi army and close down the interior and information ministries - decisions that are bound to affect hundreds of thousands of people.

As for Al-Falluja, hostility towards the occupiers has been growing since the US troops killed and wounded several dozen of the town's natives in late April.