Snowmobile strikes Iditarod teams, kills dog, injures others

— -- ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A person on a snowmobile purposely crashed into two dog teams competing in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race early Saturday morning, killing one dog and injuring at least three others.

Mushers Aliy Zirkle and four-time champion Jeff King were attacked outside the village of Nulato, a community of 236 on the Yukon River a little more than halfway into the 1,000-mile race to Nome.

One dog on Zirkle's team received injuries that officials described as non-life-threatening. King fared worse when one of the three dogs hit by the snowmobile died.

Alaska State Troopers arrived  in Nulato, and a suspect has been identified by a village police officer. Race officials did not know the gender of the suspect, said Bri Kelly, a spokeswoman for the Iditarod Trail Committee.

Race officials said Zirkle, currently running in third place, was approaching Nulato when a person on a snowmobile repeatedly attempted to harm her -- turning around multiple times and making passes at her before driving off.

She said she thought the man on the snowmobile was trying to kill her.

King was behind Zirkle -- 12 miles from Nulato -- and said the snowmobile nearly missed him before smashing into several of his dogs at high speed.

Nash, a 3-year-old male, was killed. Crosby, another 3-year-old male, and Banjo, a 2-year-old male, received injuries and are expected to survive.

King said Nash was killed nearly instantly, and he loaded Crosby and Banjo into his sled after giving them first-aid. King himself requested medical attention at Nulato.

Zirkle left Nulato at 6:16 a.m. in third place. King reached Nulato at 3:25 a.m. in fifth place.

The race leader is Brent Sass, who left Nulato at 3:43 a.m.

Reigning champ Mitch Seavey is in second place. He left Nulato one minute after Sass. Seavey's father, former champion Dallas Seavey, reached Nulato at 3:07 a.m. and is in fourth place.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.