37 U.S. Troops Killed in Deadliest Day

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 26, 2005 — -- A U.S. helicopter crashed during a sandstorm, killing 30 Marines and one sailor, and six more U.S. service members were killed today in clashes with insurgents in what turned out to be the deadliest day so far for American forces in the Iraq war.

The 37 deaths surpass the prior single-day high of 28 service members killed on March 23, 2003, during the first week of the war. And the 31 dead in the crash of the CH-53E Super Stallion transport helicopter represents the deadliest single incident for U.S. forces in Iraq.

In Washington, President Bush expressed condolences to the families of the those killed.

"We value life and we weep and mourn when soldiers lose their life," he said at a news conference. "Any time we lose life, it is a sad moment."

An investigation into the cause of the helicopter crash was under way, but officials said low visibility during a sandstorm may have contributed to the accident near Ar Rutbah, about 220 miles west of Baghdad. The desert area where the accident occurred is known to have ferocious sandstorms.

"Weather was bad," Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command, told reporters in Washington. "We don't know of any enemy action" that could have contributed to the crash, he added.

According to a military statement, personnel from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing were transporting personnel from the 1st Marine Division to western Iraq when the crash occurred at approximately 1:20 a.m. local time.

The troops were "conducting security and stabilization operations," the statement said. Officials added that the Marines were headed out to help election workers.

Four other Marines were killed in a firefight after an early morning raid in Haditha, in northwestern Iraq about 100 miles from the Syrian border, the U.S. military said.

The Marines were acting on a tip about a suspected insurgent hideout, according to Jim Dolan of WABC-TV in New York, who was with the Marines. After searching a building that turned out to be empty, the convoy of six vehicles started to make its way out of the town. Within a minute, the convoy came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire.

"It seems pretty obvious that either they got very quickly organized after they found out that the Marines were in town," Dolan told ABC News Radio, "or they knew they were coming and had a plan to start attacking on the way out, because it didn't take long."

A rocket-propelled grenade hit one vehicle, killing two Marines instantly, Dolan said. Two other Marines died on the way to the hospital.

In a separate incident north of Baghdad, insurgents attacked a U.S. Army patrol, killing onesoldier and wounding two others, the U.S. military said.

Another U.S. soldier died and two others were wounded in a roadside bombingin Baghdad, military officials said.