Airstrikes Kill Insurgents, U.S. Says

By Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post Foreign Service
March 4, 2007

The US attacked al-Qaeda in Iraq members Saturday in response to their downing of two American helicopters, killing several members in two separate airstrikes. At the same time, however, three Americans were killed by a roadside bomb in central Baghdad. Insurgents claim to have shot down six US copters since January 20th, leaving the US with a new plan on how to transport troops through the air. Road travel is even more dangerous due to the increasingly complex roadside bombs. The second airstrike of the two destroyed a factory that the US claims to have been building car bombs. Obviously, the US is trying to circumvent any new attacks both on the ground and in the air with this operation. With six helicopters going down in the past 2 months, there is an obvious need to find new ways to get around the high danger that these slow flying birds produce. New tactics such as weaving and changing altitude are being used to keep a target from easily being locked.