Syrian Kurdish force says it lost 9 fighters in Iraq crash

By HOGIR AL ABDO
Associated Press

QAMISHLI, Syria (AP) — The main U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led force in northeastern Syria says it lost nine fighters, including a commander, when two helicopters crashed this week in neighboring Iraq. The group known as Syrian Democratic Forces said Friday that the helicopters crashed during bad weather while en route to the northern Iraqi city of Suleimaniyah on Wednesday night. It says those killed included elite fighters but didn’t elaborate. The statement is starkly different from an earlier report from Iraqi Kurdish forces, which said one helicopter, an AS350 Eurocopter, had crashed in Dohuk province in Iraq’s northern semi-autonomous Kurdish region. That report said at least five people, including insurgents from Turkey’s outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party were on board.