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U.S. Helicopters Crash in Iraq, Killing Two

Explosions hit five Christian churches in Baghdad on Saturday and the U.S. command said four more American troops and an Iraqi interpreter were killed by car bombs as violence flared while Iraqi Muslims began marking the holy month of Ramadan. Mortar shells exploded Saturday near Ibn al-Betar hospital, killing one employee and wounding three others, and in the parking lot of the Mansour Hotel, which houses the Chinese embassy and is home to foreign diplomats and journalists. No one was killed in the hotel attack. In a sign of hope, community leaders in the rebel stronghold of Fallujah offered to resume peace talks with the government if U.S. forces stop their attacks on the city and free their chief negotiator. However, residents reported explosions late Saturday on the northern edge of the city. The U.S. command had no comment. Homemade bombs exploded in quick succession before dawn at the five churches in four separate Baghdad neighborhoods, causing no casualties but further alarming the Christian minority community already on edge over the perceived rise of Islamic militancy following last year's ouster of Saddam Hussein. [more

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Pictured above: A U.S. soldier orders journalists to leave the scene of car bomb attack in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, October 15, 2004 [more ]