Video Shows Execution of Helicopter Crash Survivor

The Islamic Army in Iraq claimed responsibility Thursday for shooting down a helicopter north of Baghdad, killing all 11 people onboard. The Bulgarian Defense Ministry said that missile fire took down the chopper, and U. S. military officials agree that was mostly likely what happened. Six Americans, employees of the security firm Blackwater USA, were among the dead, as well as three Bulgarian crew members and two security guards from Fiji. A chilling video carrying the logo of the Islamic Army was posted on websites used by Islamic groups, and it shows one of the passengers of the downed helicopter being executed after surviving the crash. Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera aired portions of the video, which does not show the helicopter actually being shot down.

The video begins with a cameraman breathing laboriously as he runs toward the flaming wreckage of the crashed helicopter. Two bodies are seen in the wreckage, one of them charred and blackened. A voice speaking in Arabic says, "Look at that filth." Then the lone survivor is shown lying in tall grass, and the cameraman yells at him in English to "stand up!" The man replies in English, "I can’t, my leg is broken," but he is forced to stand anyway. The survivor, who is believed to be one of the Bulgarian passengers, is helped to his feet by a gunman, and he tries to walk but has difficulty doing so. The man turns toward his captor and raises his hand as if gesturing for him not to do something, and then the cameraman gives the order to shoot. The video zooms out, with the survivor shown in the middle of the frame, and then shots are fired. A spray of bullets strikes him repeatedly as he falls to the ground and even afterward, with gunmen shouting in Arabic, "God is great." Then a voice says, again in Arabic, "We are applying God’s law."

A statement posted on the Internet along with the video was written in the name of the Islamic Army. It reads: "Heroes of the Islamic Army downed a transport aircraft belonging to the army of the infidels and killed its crew and those on board in the regions of al-Taji north of Baghdad." The statement goes on to say: "One of the crew members was captured and killed."Military officials have said that the helicopter was doing work for the U. S. Defense Department, ferrying passengers from Baghdad to Tikrit. It was on its way to pick up people for a return trip to the capital when it was shot down. An official at the Bulgarian company that owned the helicopter said at least one surface-to-air missile hit the chopper. Television reports showed burning wreckage and personal belongings scattered in a wide swath across the crash site.

American Embassy officials said the helicopter was contracted from a Washington-based company, SkyLink Air and Logistic Support. The security contractor Blackwater USA provides bodyguards for State Department officials in Iraq. Thursday’s killings raised questions about the vulnerability of commercial aircraft, since private charters and commercial aircraft have been flying in and out of Baghdad, but they do not have the same defense capabilities of military aircraft. The chartered flight shot down by the Islamic Army is believed to be the first civilian aircraft shot down in Iraq since the beginning of the war two years ago.