High-ranking losses deal blow to U.S. troops
By Associated Press
Friday, January 26, 2007 - Updated: 01:32 AM EST

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two colonels, one lieutenant colonel and two command sergeants major were among the 12 soldiers killed last weekend in a Black Hawk helicopter crash northeast of Baghdad, the Pentagon said.

It appeared to be the largest number of key officers and command sergeants killed in a single incident since the Iraq war started nearly four years ago.

The U.S. command has not said why so many key officers were aboard a single helicopter, which went down Saturday in Diyala province, one of the flashpoints of the Iraq conflict.

It was also unclear why they were traveling in the volatile region. The loss of such pivotal figures is likely to be a severe blow to their units.

This was in the Boston Herald. With his picture. The bold is my doing.....