NAJAF, Iraq — A U.S. Apache helicopter was seen by an Associated Press reporter burning on the ground outside Fallujah on Tuesday, and witnesses said it was hit by a rocket from the ground. There was no immediate word on casualties.
The helicopter was in flames on the ground 12 miles east of Fallujah near the village of Zawbaa.
U.S. troops who converged on the site were attacked by gunmen, the reporter said.
Later Tuesday, a Marine commander confirmed that a military H-53 Sikorsky helicopter crashed outside Fallujah.
The site was between Fallujah and the western Baghdad suburb of Abu Ghraib, where an Apache was shot down by gunmen Sunday, killing its two crewmembers.
