Two US soldiers killed in Baghdad helicopter crash

BAGHDAD, Jan 29 (AFP) - Two US soldiers were killed when their helicopter crashed in western Baghdad on Friday, the US military said Saturday in a statement.
"Two Task Force Baghdad soldiers died when their helicopter went down in the southwestern portion of the Iraqi capital" late Friday, the statement said.
The military had reported the crash Friday, but the fate of the two-man crew had not been immediately known.
Five other soldiers from the same Baghdad-based division were killed in a string of attacks Friday, as insurgents stepped up their onslaught ahead of Sunday's landmark general elections.
The deaths raised the overall toll for US soldiers killed in Iraq to 1,414 since the US-led invasion of March 2003, according to Pentagon figures.

01/29/2005 05:53 GMT - AFP