Baghdad: A US military helicopter crashed in a remote area of Iraq on Saturday night, killing all 12 people on board, the US military said on Sunday.
A spokesman said the cause of the crash of the Black Hawk in northwestern Iraq was under investigation, but noted that there was severe weather at the time the helicopter went down.
It was one of the deadliest such incidents suffered by the US military in Iraq since it invaded the country in March 2003.
"A coalition helicopter crashed in a sparsely populated area 12 kilometres (seven miles) east of Tal Afar shortly before midnight (2100 GMT), killing passengers and crew," a statement said.
The Black Hawk was part of a two-aircraft mission flying between bases in northern Iraq when communications were lost with the aircraft on Saturday night, the military said.
"Flight records indicate that eight passengers and four crew members were manifested for the flight. An immediate search and resuce operation was launched from nearby military installations."
The spokesman said he could not immediately give details about those on baord.
The plane was found at about noon (0900 GMT) on Sunday.
In the deadliest such incident, a US marine transport helicopter crashed in western Iraq in January last year, killing all 31 marines aboard.
Earlier Sunday, the US military had announced that five US marines had been killed in and around the restive western Iraqi town of Fallujah over the weekend.
Three "were killed by small-arms fire in separate attacks while conducting combat operations against the enemy" on Sunday, a statement said.
Another two were killed by roadside bomb explosions to the south and east of the city on Saturday, the military said.
The latest casualties in the fighting took the death toll of US soldiers in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to at least 2,197, according to an AFP toll based on figures from the Pentagon.
There have been a string of helicopter crashes in recent months.
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