US officials have denied any connection to a mysterious helicopter crash that killed seven people in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region on Wednesday night, well-informed sources told Al-Monitor. All seven passengers, including five alleged members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), died in the AS350 Eurocopter that crashed in the district of Chamanke in Dohuk province, the Iraqi Kurdish-run counterterrorism agency said on Thursday.
The sources briefing Al-Monitor said an investigation was continuing and that there had been two helicopters at the scene. One crashed and the other flew to neighboring Syria into the Kurdish-governed zone, the sources said.