BAGHDAD, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Violence claimed at least two lives and a U.S. military chopper was shot down in Iraq Monday as efforts to form a new government continued.
Reports quoted witnesses as saying a rocket hit the U.S. helicopter near the town of Moshahada, north of Iraq, in the third such incident in two weeks.
There was no immediate word on the fate of the chopper's two-member crew as the U.S. Army confirmed the crash without giving further details.
A group calling itself "The Brigades of Salaheddine al-Ayyubi" claimed responsibility in statement carried on an Islamic Web Site.
Earlier this month, a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter crashed near the rebel stronghold of Tal Afar in northern Iraq, killing eight passengers and four crew members.
In separate incidents of violence, two Iraqi policemen were killed and five soldiers were wounded in the Iraqi capital.
The policemen were killed in an attack by unknown gunmen in two Baghdad neighborhoods as an explosive charge was detonated in eastern Baghdad near an Iraqi army patrol, injuring five of its members.
Meanwhile, President Jalal Talabani called for the formation of a national unity government in which all Iraqi factions and groups would be represented.
In an interview carried Monday with semi-official daily al-Sabah, Talabani said powers should not be concentrated in the hands of a particular group or faction and Kurds and Shiites cannot rule Iraq alone, though that is possible under the constitution.
"All factions should participate in ruling Iraq, and not a particular group or a few parties," Talabani said.
He called for granting the president of the republic additional powers to enable him to share in important decision-making along with the groups participating in the government.
Talabani, a Kurd, also called for appointing qualified ministers in the new government, stressing their political affiliations should not be the only criteria.
He also stressed that the new prime minister should be accepted by all the main Iraqi factions, not only Kurds and Shiites, in addition to being accepted by Arabs and the international community.
