WASHINGTON, Nov 5: Many US helicopters in Iraq lack routine anti-missile equipment that might have thwarted last weekend’s attack on a Chinook helicopter that killed 15 US troops, a Democratic senator said on Wednesday.

Complaining of a lack of measures to protect US troops under fire in Iraq, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin said “reliable military sources” told him they had been battling for six months to get anti-missile equipment and that helicopter crews even had to scavenge items from other helicopters.

“It’s been a struggle for them to get the most basic equipment they need to protect themselves,” Durbin told ABC’s “Good Morning America” program.

An American military CH-47 Chinook helicopter, whose pilot came from Durbin’s state, was downed by a shoulder-guided missile on Sunday, killing 15 US troops and injuring 27, two of whom were aboard another helicopter that landed nearby in a rescue effort.

“What we’ve learned from communications is that for months they’ve been flying without the protective equipment, and the crews and pilots have tried to secure the equipment from every source imaginable. That’s unacceptable to me, to put them in harm’s way without the very best protective equipment,” Durbin said.—Reuters