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Thursday, Jan. 8, 2004

The military also said a U.S. soldier died Wednesday of injuries suffered in a mortar attack that wounded 33 other troops and a civilian west of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, hundreds of angry Iraqis waited outside an infamous prison in Baghdad for a much-publicized release of detainees that did not occur by late afternoon.

There were no survivors among the nine American soldiers aboard the medical evacuation helicopter that crashed about 2:20 p.m. while making an "emergency landing" near Fallujah, said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt in Baghdad. The cause of the crash was unknown, he said.

Mohammed Ahmed al-Jamali, a farmer who lives close to the crash site, said he heard the whoosh of a rocket, saw it hit the helicopter in the tail and watched the chopper crash in flames.

Al-Jamali, 27, said he rushed to the scene but found all aboard dead.

"I was in the farm. I heard the sound, looked up, and I saw the rocket hit. It hit it in the tail," al-Jamali said.

He said that there were two helicopters in the air, both with the distinctive red crosses of medical evacuation craft, and that the second one was hit.

The aircraft was on a medical evacuation mission, but it was no clear if any patients were on board, a U.S. military official said on condition of anonymity.

A U.S. helicopter crashed Jan. 2 in the same area, killing one soldier, and military officials said it almost certainly was shot down by guerrillas.

In the deadliest single attack on U.S. forces since the Iraq invasion began in March, 17 soldiers were killed on Nov. 15 when two Black Hawk helicopters collided above Mosul in what the military called a likely grenade attack.

The latest incident comes the day after guerrillas fired six mortars into a U.S. military camp, killing one soldier and wounding 33 soldiers and one civilian, a U.S. military spokeswoman said.

She said the mortars exploded in a living area of Logistical Base Seitz, which also is in the tense "Sunni Triangle" that is home to hardline supporters of ousted leader Saddam Hussein.

Also Thursday, residents foiled an attack on Baghdad's police headquarters after they chased away men preparing to launch rockets near a soccer stadium, according to Maj. Roger Hedgepeth of the 18th Military Police Brigade. He said police seized 11 rockets.

At Abu Ghraib, hundreds of people waited in frustration for hours, hoping relatives would be among the first detainees that coalition officials said would be freed.

However, U.S. guards said they had no orders to release anyone, and an Iraqi lawyer, Mohammed al-Tamimi, expressed doubt anyone would be freed Thursday.

"Liars! Liars! They won't let them out!" a woman screamed as she emerged from the prison. Others railed against "unjust arrests" among the thousands of people rounded up by U.S. and coalition troops and held without detention or charge.

There was more confusion when three truckloads of prisoners were driven out of the prison, and those waiting rushed out into the street after them, stopping traffic on a busy highway. Drivers got out of their cars and people hugged and kissed in joy.

But a U.S. official said that was a routine release that had nothing to do with the amnesty.

"This has nothing to do with Bremer's announcement," Lt. Col. Roy Shere said of the amnesty announcement Wednesday by L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq.

Shere, a spokesman for the 800th Military Police Brigade, which operates prisons in Iraq, said the unit had not received any order to release prisoners under the amnesty. "Until we get some information that says 'release these prisoners,' they are staying put," he said.

Bremer's announcement appeared to be a conciliatory gesture as the United States seeks to win goodwill among Iraqis. However, among those gathered at the prison, the delay and confusion over the release were having the opposite effect.

"I don't trust the Americans. They are making more enemies for themselves now by arresting innocent people," said Jassin Rasheed, whose brother Omar was detained two months ago.

Saqria Nejam said she had not seen her son since he was arrested in a firefight on Nov. 1, shot in the head and detained.

"We are really the victims," she said. "Our country is taken; our sons are taken; our lives are destroyed."

Bremer said they would release 506 of about 12,800 detainees in a goodwill gesture and that the first 100 would be freed Thursday from Abu Ghraib, where Saddam Hussein's regime held, tortured and murdered its opponents.

The rest were expected to be freed from camps all over the country in the coming weeks.

U.S. and coalition troops have rounded up thousands of people suspected of attacks or of funding the anti-American insurgency in Iraq.

Relatives at the prison said people were being arrested unjustly and there were dozens of tales of sons detained because they were near the scene of an attack, Bedouins rounded up as they tended their sheep, people being denounced to the Americans to settle an old score, a father arrested because he had a rifle in his car.

"Everyone in Iraq has a gun," said Karim Mohammed, 30, who was detained along with his brother but released 10 days ago. He said police came to their home and asked for his brother by name, then arrested the two when they found an AK-47 rifle in their home.

"These are all false accusations," he said. "Some people are avenging themselves. Anyone who wants to get his own back just goes to the Americans and reports that a person is a resistance fighter."

Rasheed said his brother was detained after a fight with colleagues. "For revenge, they told the Americans that my brother is a terrorist," he said.

Coalition officials said those to be released were low-level "associates" of guerrillas who had not been directly involved in any attacks.

Bremer said those to be pardoned included Iraqis who had worked against the U.S. occupation but stressed the amnesty was "not a program for those with bloodstained hands."

The release of detainees has been a top demand of the country's community and tribal leaders, as well as human rights advocates who say families are searching for relatives who get detained and are not heard from for months.

One coalition official described the typical prisoner to be freed as a person swept up in a raid that also captured "more dangerous persons" and perhaps weapons. Another official suggested the detainees might have acted out of fear of Saddam's possible return.

He said those to be freed must first sign a statement renouncing violence.

© 2003 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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