BAGHDAD, June 12: A US helicopter was shot down on Thursday and several people were killed in overnight clashes with coalition forces in western Iraq, which has seen a spate of attacks on US troops, the US-led coalition said.

“One AH-64 Apache was apparently shot down by hostile fire on Thursday in western Iraq. Coalition ground forces were able to recover the uninjured two-member crew almost immediately and secure the crash site,” US Central Command (Centcom) said.

“Two additional Apache helicopters assisted in engaging irregular forces in the vicinity of the downed aircraft,” Centcom said in a statement.

A civilian spokesman for the coalition meanwhile said that several people were killed in overnight clashes.

“Last night there were a number of fatalities in the contacts with coalition forces that are going on in western Iraq,” he said, declining to elaborate ahead of a briefing by ground forces chief Lt-Gen David McKiernan later on Thursday.

A Centcom statement said a coalition soldier was slightly injured during an overnight raid on a “terrorist training camp” northwest of the Iraqi capital conducted as part of the campaign to eradicate loyalists of the ousted Baath regime of Saddam Hussein.

“A coalition raid was conducted 150kms northwest of Baghdad on Wednesday as part of the continued effort to eradicate Baath party loyalists, paramilitary groups and other subversive elements,” it said.

“The assault on the terrorist training camp began at approximately 1:45 am Baghdad time (2145 GMT Wednesday) with a coordinated air strike.

In yet another incident, Centcom said a US F-16 crashed southwest of the Iraqi capital on Thursday, but the reasons for the accident were not known.

“A US Air Force F-16CG aircraft crashed at approximately 6:30am (0230 GMT) local time on Thursday southwest of Baghdad. The aircraft was flying from a forward-deployed air base in Southwest Asia supporting operations in Iraq,” Centcom said.—AFP