Seven American soldiers were killed in southern Iraq early Thursday when their Chinook helicopter crashed as it was flying into the country from Kuwait, the U.S. military said. The Associated Press quoted military as saying that the helicopter did not come under attack, and that even though the cause of the crash is still undetermined, it was certainly an accident. «At this time we are uncertain of the cause, but hostile fire has been ruled out,» military spokesman Maj. John Hall said. «The other three helicopters in the flight did not have incident or injury.» Hall said that seven Americans died. The CH-47 Chinook crashed shortly after midnight in the desert about 60 miles (96 kilometers) west of Basra, the military said. The chopper was a part of an aerial convoy flying from Kuwait to the U.S. military base at Balad north of Baghdad.
