Late year,a black hawk helicopter has crashed in northern Iraq, killing 14 US soldiers. Meanwhile, at least 20 people were killed and 50 wounded when a suicide bomber rammed a fuel tanker into Baiji police station, 110 miles north of Baghdad. Police and civilians were among the dead. In a statement, the US military said initial indications suggested the helicopter had suffered mechanical failure. "There were no indications of hostile fire," the statement said. "Two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters were on a night operation when one of the aircraft crashed. That helicopter had been carrying four crew members and ten passengers." The crash is the worst since January 2005, when 31 service personnel were killed when a Marine transport helicopter was downed. The losses take to 3,721 the number of US military killed in Iraq since the 2003 allied invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. A total of 63 have died so far in August. More than 70,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the invasion, according to Iraq Body Count research group. Last year a Lancet study estimated that 655,000 more people had died in Iraq since allied forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred. At last reserved.

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