BAGHDAD, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - A US helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing at a coalition base south of the Iraqi capital earlier this week after being hit by small arms fire, the military said Friday.

'A team of two Apaches were responding to ground troops in contact with enemy forces when one was hit and conducted a hard landing after disrupting the attack,' a statement said.

No one was injured in the incident which took place on Wednesday, said US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Robert Wilson.

LONDON, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - Nearly 200 mourners gathered Wednesday for the funeral of Scottish former world rally champion Colin McRae and his five-year-old son Johnny who died in a helicopter crash.

Family members, Formula 1 racing legend Sir Jackie Stewart, Rangers and Scotland football captain Barry Ferguson and IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti were among those at the service at Daldowie Crematorium, near Glasgow.

The bodies of McRae, 39, and his son lay in the same coffin which arrived in a three-car cortege.

LONDON, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) - Former world rally champion Colin McRae and his five-year-old son were among four people killed in a helicopter crash this weekend in southern Scotland, police said Sunday.

Scotsman McRae, his son Johnny and two family friends including a six-year-old boy were killed when the 39-year-old driver's Squirrel Two aircraft crashed in the grounds of his Lanark home on Saturday.

Tributes poured in from the sporting and political arenas in honour of McRae, who in 1995 was the first Briton to win the world rally championship.

LONDON, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) - British rally driver Colin McRae and two children -- including his five-year-old son -- were among the four passengers killed in a helicopter crash this weekend in Scotland, police said Sunday.

Strathclyde Police confirmed that the 39-year-old driver, his son Johnny, and two family friends were killed in the incident in Lanark, Scotland, on Saturday afternoon.

LONDON, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) - British rally driver Colin McRae and two children -- including his five-year-old son -- were among the passengers killed in a helicopter crash this weekend in Scotland, police said Sunday.

Strathclyde Police confirmed in a statement that the 39-year-old driver, his son Johnny, and two family friends were killed in the incident in Lanark, Scotland, on Saturday afternoon.

LONDON, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) - Colin McRae, the first Briton to win the world rally championship, was believed Sunday to have been among those killed in a helicopter crash near his home.

The Sunday Times newspaper, citing McRae's agent Jean-Eric Freudiger, said the 39-year-old Scot had been piloting the helicopter himself.

McRae's son Johnny, another adult and another child were also believed to have been on board, according to the weekly paper.

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) - Six people including two Polish tourists have been killed in a helicopter crash in far eastern Russia, a local official from Russia's emergency situations ministry said on Sunday.

The pilot survived the crash and has been hospitalised in a serious condition, the official from the ministry's far eastern division in the city of Khabarovsk told AFP by telephone.

MOSCOW, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) - Six people have been killed in a helicopter crash in the remote region of Magadan in far eastern Russia, officials from Russia's emergency situations ministry said on Sunday.

A seventh person, believed to be the pilot, survived the crash but has been hospitalised in a serious condition, Russian news agencies reported, citing officials.

There were a total of three crew members and four passengers on board the chopper, including two Polish tourists, a local official was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying.

MOSCOW, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) - Six people have been killed in a helicopter crash in far eastern Russia, an official from Russia's emergency situations ministry said on Sunday.

The accident happened in the Magadan region on Saturday but the wreckage of the helicopter was only found on Sunday, the official was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

A seventh person, believed to be a crew member, survived but is in a serious condition, the official said.

LONDON, Sept 15, 2007 (AFP) - British former world rallying champion Colin McRae was believed to have been killed in a fatal helicopter crash at his home on Saturday, police told AFP.

Four people died in the crash at Jerviswood near the town of Lanark in southern Scotland, Strathclyde Police said.

There were no survivors and formal identification of the bodies was not expected until Sunday.

LONDON, Sept 15, 2007 (AFP) - A helicopter registered to British former rally driver Colin McRae has crashed in Scotland, television reports said Saturday.

A police spokeswoman confirmed to AFP only that one person had died in the crash but could not say who the helicopter belonged to and that 'formal identification' of the body was not expected before Sunday.

'There are no survivors. At least one person has died. We believe others may have been on board but we don't know how many,' the Strathclyde Police spokeswoman told AFP.

MIAMI, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - Two men were killed on Tuesday when a helicopter used to film a speedboat crashed in the Gulf of Mexico about three kilometers (two miles) off the coast, the sheriff's office in Sarasota, Florida reported.

'The accident involved a helicopter film crew who were filming a cigar boat,' the sheriff's office said.

'Responders pulled three victims from the water, two of which are confirmed deceased,' it said in a statement, adding that the pilot of the boat and a model who was also on the boat both escaped injury.

ISLAMABAD, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - Pakistani authorities transferred former premier Nawaz Sharif by helicopter to an unknown location after his return from exile and detention on Monday, security officials said.

'He was taken out of Islamabad airport on a helicopter which was parked there since this morning,' one senior official told AFP. He would not say where Sharif was being taken.

Television footage showed a white, Russian-built Mi-17 helicopter leaving the airport and flying off.

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, Aug 18, 2007 (AFP) - A Philippine military helicopter crashed Saturday during a clash with Al Al Qaeda-linked Muslim extremists in the south, killing the pilot, a military spokesman said.

The spokesman, air force chief Lieutenant General Horacio Tolentino, denied earlier reports from military sources that the MG-520 went down after the pilot was shot by enemy fire.

Tolentino said the helicopter crashed off the coast of Basilan island after unexplained vibrations, adding: 'It was not fired upon. It was not hit.'

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, Aug 18, 2007 (AFP) - Muslim extremists on Saturday shot down a Philippine military helicopter during clashes in the country's restive south, killing the pilot, military sources said.

The sources said the pilot of the MG-520 helicopter was fatally hit by enemy fire as the aircraft was reinforcing ground troops attacking a camp used by the extremist Abu Sayyaf group, the sources said.

The co-pilot of the helicopter was rescued unharmed by a naval vessel, the military said.

LOS ANGELES, Aug 17, 2007 (AFP) - Four servicemen were killed and one injured after a US military helicopter crashed in Arizona during a training exercise, the military said Friday.

A statement released from the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona said three Marines and a sailor died after their HH-1N Huey search and rescue chopper crashed near the Colorado River on Thursday.

LOS ANGELES, Aug 17, 2007 (AFP) - A search and rescue operation was underway in the Arizona desert on Friday after a US military helicopter with five servicemen on board went missing during a training exercise, the military said.

A statement released from the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona said there had been no contact with a HH-1N Huey search and rescue chopper since 4:00 pm (2300 GMT) Thursday.

The helicopter, carrying four Marines and one sailor, had been returning from a routine training flight, the statement said.

BANGALORE, India, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) - India carried out the first flight Thursday of a weaponised combat helicopter it is developing to equip its own armed forces as well as potential overseas customers including Turkey.

State-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) said the Dhruv (Pole Star) light helicopter was a 'birthday gift' to the nation that celebrated 60 years of independence from Britain on Wednesday.

India is trying to build military muscle in step with its increasing economic clout as one of the world's fastest-growing economies after China.

BAGHDAD, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - A US military helicopter crashed in western Iraq on Tuesday, killing five soldiers, the military reported.

The CH-47 Chinook crashed in the restive province of Al-Anbar near the Al-Taqaddum air base.

The helicopter 'went down while conducting a routine post-maintenance check flight,' the military added, saying the incident was under investigation.

BAGHDAD, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - A US military helicopter crashed in western Iraq on Tuesday, killing five soldiers, the military reported.

The CH-47 Chinook crashed in the restive province of Al-Anbar near the Al-Taqaddum air base.

The helicopter 'went down while conducting a routine post-maintenance check flight,' the military added, saying the incident was under investigation.

LONDON, Aug 10, 2007 (AFP) - One person injured when a Royal Air Force helicopter crashed in northern England has died, bringing the death toll from the incident to three people, the British defence ministry said Friday.

Police had announced Wednesday that two people were killed and 10 injured in the accident near the Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire.

A police spokesman had said that of the 12 people on the aircraft, three were RAF crew, and nine army personnel were passengers.

An investigation has been opened into the crash.

BAGHDAD, Aug 10, 2007 (AFP) - A US military helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing during a raid south of Baghdad on Friday, injuring two soldiers, but the cause of the incident was not clear, the military said.

'During an early morning raid August 10, a US helicopter executed a forced landing in Yusifiyah, ten miles (25 kilometres) south of Baghdad, while supporting a planned mission,' the military said.

Two American soldiers were injured in the landing but their condition was described as 'non-life threatening.'

LONDON, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - Two people died and 10 were injured, some seriously, when a Royal Air Force (RAF) helicopter crashed in northern England, local police said Thursday.

The defence ministry launched a rescue operation late Wednesday after the aircraft crashed at about 9pm (2000 GMT) near the Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire, where it had been to work with the army.

LONDON, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - Britain's defence ministry launched a rescue operation Wednesday evening after a Royal Air Force (RAF) helicopter crashed in northern England, injuring all 12 people on board.

A spokeswoman for the defence ministry, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, could not provide details on the people who were injured, but said that they suffered from 'a range of injuries, from very serious to walking wounded.'

LONDON, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - Britain's defence ministry launched a rescue operation Wednesday evening after a helicopter crashed in northern England, causing several injuries.

A spokeswoman for the defence ministry could not confirm whether it was a military aircraft, or the number of injuries, though local ambulance services said that at least eight casualties were being taken to hospital.

'A search and rescue operation is under way following reports of a helicopter crash in the Catterick Garrison area,' she said.

MOSCOW, July 29, 2007 (AFP) - Five people were killed when a private helicopter crashed late Saturday in the western central Russian republic of Udmurtiya, in the Urals region, Russian news agencies reported overnight.

'Five bodies were extracted from the helicopter, including pilot Yekimov, and four passengers -- two adults, Titov and Belogolovkin, and two children,' the Rosaviation state agency's spokesman said as quoted by RIA Novosti.

The helicopter hit power cables before falling into a local reservoir and sinking, officials said.