Downed Apache crew shown on Iraqi TV

The Pentagon last night identified the two pilots of a US army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter that went down during fighting south of Baghdad.

The pilots, who are being held as prisoners in Iraq and were paraded on Iraqi state television, were named as David Williams, 30, of Florida and Ronald Young, 26, of Lithia Springs, Georgia, according to a Pentagon statement.

General Tommy Franks, the US war commander, confirmed that one helicopter did not return from its mission on Sunday and that its two-man crew was missing. Later the Pentagon confirmed that the two airmen shown on television were the crewmen.

The airmen were the second set of PoWs displayed by the Iraqis in as many days. They did not appear to be injured.

They wore cream-coloured pilots' overalls and did not speak to the camera but appeared confused. The contents of one man's wallet were displayed, including a Texas driver's licence, a bank card, phone cards and credit cards.

A spokesman at Fort Hood, Texas, said that a helicopter from the 1st Battalion of the 227th Aviation Regiment was missing in action. Iraq claimed that the Apache Longbow and another helicopter were shot down by farmers. But it remained unclear last night what had forced the aircraft down.

"A small number of peasants shot down two Apaches," the information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, said. Gen Franks denied this. Television pictures showed the black helicopter surrounded by cheering Iraqis in a field strewn with documents. It appeared largely intact, suggesting a technical failure. Even its Hellfire missiles remained in place.

The Apache was part of a force of 30-40 helicopters involved in an attack on military targets south of Baghdad, said Gen Franks, who described them as "very effective".

He did not elaborate on the targets, but CNN journalist Karl Penhaul, who is with the US 11th Attack Helicopter Regiment, said its Apaches had been going after armoured units of the Republican Guard when they ran into unexpectedly fierce anti-aircraft fire about 60 miles south of the capital, near the town of Kerbala and well beyond the main ground force's forward line.

Mr Penhaul, who flew on the night mission in the command helicopter, said they had run into a "hornet's nest" of anti-aircraft fire, which left the Apache crews "somewhat dazed, somewhat stunned". They were forced to withdraw without hitting the Republican Guard's Soviet-made T-72 tanks and artillery pieces.

According to a Reuters photographer who went to the crash scene, witnesses said the Apache had flown low over palm trees, allowing soldiers and farmers to shoot at it.

While the US dismisses the claim that one of the world's top attack helicopters could be downed so easily, the loss, and problems suffered by other Apaches, will worry commanders. Yesterday's incidents suggest they may be vulnerable even to a weakened Iraqi air defence system.