1 US soldier Killed, 4 wounded
A US helicopter was shot down on Friday, killing one US soldier and wounding another. There are confusing reports from the scene. The US military asserts that its soldiers took fire from assailants dressed as journalists, and apprehended some. Reuters says that the people in custody are just innocent cameramen. It is not impossible that the original assailants dressed as civilian journalists precisely in order to provoke such a US army reaction against the real journalists, so as to make bad publicity. It is also possible that the assailants fired at the US from behind the Reuters’ camera crew, and the soldiers just assumed that the camera crew was involved. It is also possible that the Pentagon just doesn’t want footage of wreckage showing up on cable tv back in the States; but that is speculation.
Near Ramadi, guerrillas attacked a US convoy that included a 5,000 gallon oil tanker, and managed to set off a conflagration, wounding three US soldiers.