Al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed today it was behind the downing of a US military helicopter near the northern city of Mosul which killed its two pilots.
"Our lions in Mosul ... succeeded to shoot down a US helicopter on Friday by targeting it with medium-sized weapons," said an Internet statement attributed to al-Qaeda.
The statement's authenticity could not be verified.
It was posted on a website often used by insurgents.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - Washington's most wanted man in the country - often claims responsibility for major attacks on US forces and Iraqi government troops.
Witnesses had reported seeing gunmen armed with heavy machineguns open fire on the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, a two-seat, single-engine helicopter, in al-Sukar district north of Mosul.
The US military said the crash of the helicopter appeared to be due to hostile fire.
It was the second US helicopter to crash in Iraq in less than a week.
A military UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed last weekend, killing all 12 aboard in one of the worst incidents of its kind since the war began in 2003.
The US military believes the Black Hawk may have been brought down by bad weather, but the cause is still under investigation.
Dozens of soldiers have been killed in helicopter crashes since the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, some in accidents and some after being fired on by insurgents with shoulder-fired missiles or small arms.