BAGHDAD, Aug 22: At least 14 American soldiers were killed when their helicopter crashed in northern Iraq and a suicide bombing claimed 24 lives on Wednesday.

The Blackhawk transport chopper was one of a pair conducting an overnight mission for Task Force Lightning, the US command in northern Iraq. It plunged to the ground before dawn with the loss of four crew and 10 US troops.

“Initial indications are that the aircraft experienced a mechanical malfunction. There were no indications of hostile fire,” the task force said.

Another US soldier was killed in Baghdad.

Shortly afterwards, a suicide bomber struck in Task Force Lightning’s area of responsibility, ploughing his explosives-laden truck into an Iraqi police station in Baiji, killing 19 civilians and five policemen.

Doctor Saad Jasim from the Baiji General Hospital said 83 other people were wounded, several of them women and children.

Meanwhile, United States president George Bush stood by Iraqi Prime Minster Nuri Al Maliki despite calls from some US lawmakers for him to be replaced and the country’s Ambassador in Baghdad Ryan Crocker describing the Iraqi government’s performance as ‘extremely disappointing’.

In a speech to US veterans in Kansas City, President Bush said: “Prime Minister Maliki is a good guy, good man, with a difficult job, and I support him.”

Mr Maliki rejected pressure for him to work more urgently to mend fences, telling reporters in Damascus: “No one has the authority to impose a timetable on the Iraqi government.”—AFP