A video posted on the Internet Wednesday in the name of an armed group claimed to show Iraqis dragging the burning body of a U.S. pilot on the ground after the crash of an Apache helicopter.
The U.S. military condemned the posting and said that although reports of a Web site video "suggest that terrorists removed part of a body from the crash site, the authenticity of the video cannot be confirmed." "We are outraged that anyone would create and publish such a despicable video for public exposure," U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington said, according to the AP.
The video, posted by a group calling itself the Shura Council of Mujahedeen, claimed that its military wing had gunned down the aircraft, which the U.S. military said went down Saturday.
In its statement, the U.S. military said it confirmed the two pilots had died, and it had recovered "all available remains found on the scene, given the catastrophic nature of the crash."
The AH-64D Apache Longbow crashed about 5:30 p.m. Saturday due to hostile fire west of Youssifiyah while conducting a combat air patrol, the military said. Youssifiyah is about 10 miles southwest of Baghdad.
