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Iraq Transition

Nine die in Baghdad mosque bombing

Second group claims Iraq copter downing


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CNN's Octavia Nasr discusses video that shows a man's shooting death.

An insurgent video purports to show a crash survivor's slaying.

New video airing on Al-Jazeera allegedly shows a helicopter being shot down.
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide car bomber killed at least nine people and wounded 24 others Friday near a Shiite Muslim mosque in Baghdad, police sources said.

The bomber in a BMW struck near al-Subaih Mosque in the southeastern Jedida neighborhood as Shiites were leaving the mosque after Friday prayers, the sources said.

About 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people are Shiites. They were persecuted under Saddam Hussein's regime but have gained power in the new National Assembly, elected in January.

Sunni Muslim militants and Saddam loyalists are part of an insurgency marked by suicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings that have often targeted Shiites.

New video airs

Arabic-language TV network Al-Jazeera aired a video Friday appearing to show a commercial helicopter with 11 people aboard being shot down a day earlier.

CNN has not confirmed the video's authenticity.

An Al-Jazeera anchor said an insurgent group -- the Army of the Mujahedeen, whose logo was superimposed on a corner of the video screen image -- took credit for shooting down the chopper.

The video showed the Russian-made MI-8 flying low and away from the camera, then falling to the ground with a trail of thick black smoke after the sound of two loud blasts.

This video release comes a day after another clip, reportedly shot by a different insurgent group, showed scenes from the crash site.

That group, the Islamic Army in Iraq, also claimed responsibility for the deaths of the 11 people onboard -- one of them apparently slain after surviving the crash.

Among the dead were six American employees of the security firm Blackwater USA, three Bulgarian crew members and two Fijian security guards.

In the video purportedly showing the aftermath of the helicopter's crash, the wreckage burns in a field.

An insurgent's voice can be heard saying in Arabic, "Look at this filthy one," as he directs a camera toward one of two nearby charred bodies.

The video shows an apparent survivor lying in a field of high grass. Debris burns in the background, and it appears he is some distance from the crash site.

"Give me a hand," says the man, who is wearing a blue jumpsuit and gloves.

"Come here, come here," an insurgent shouts.

The man says his leg is broken and is helped to his feet. The insurgents tell him, "Go! Go!" and he walks slowly through the grass, with a slight limp.

The cameraman instructs the shooter in Arabic, "One moment." The video zooms out, and when the man is in the middle of the frame, the cameraman gives the order to shoot. The victim turns toward his killer, and more than 15 shots ring out, repeatedly striking him, even after he falls to the ground.

"We are applying God's law," a voice says in Arabic.

The video appeared on Web sites Islamist groups use. Al-Jazeera also aired portions of it, and CNN cannot confirm this video's authenticity either.

Mihail Mihailov, general director of the Bulgarian company that owned and operated the helicopter, identified the man in the video as Lubomir Kostov, one of the Bulgarian commanders on the helicopter.

The Islamic Army in Iraq has carried out attacks in Iraq and taken hostages, including an Italian journalist who was beheaded. The militant group also took two French journalists hostage but released them.

The helicopter was ferrying passengers from Baghdad to the northern city of Tikrit when it went down.

The Bulgarian Defense Ministry said missile fire downed the chopper, which U.S. military sources said they also suspected.

U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the six Americans were assisting the department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, which protects diplomats.

Blackwater said Heli-Air Services, a subcontractor to air charter firm SkyLink Air and Logistic Support, owned and operated the aircraft. Bulgaria said the three crew members were civilians and identified them as commanders Kostov and Georgi Naieeno and board engineer Stoyan Anchev. The identities of the other dead were not immediately available.

Eighteen Blackwater employees have died since the war in Iraq began, the company said.

Other developments

  • An American soldier was killed and another injured Friday when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle in northern Iraq, a U.S. military statement said. The improvised explosive device detonated north of Tal Afar while the soldiers with the Army's 1st Corps Support Command were on a combat logistics patrol. Since the start of the war, 1,566 U.S. service members have died in Iraq.
  • The U.S. Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved $81 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Full story)
  • Al-Jazeera on Friday also aired video of three Romanian journalists -- two men and a woman -- and a translator who have been held hostage in Iraq since March. The network said kidnappers have given the Romanian government four days from the release of the video to pull its troops out of Iraq or the journalists will be killed. (Full story)
  • CNN's Caroline Faraj, Ayman Mohyeldin, Kianne Sadeq, Barbara Starr and Mohammed Tawfeeq and journalist Venelin Petkov contributed to this report.


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