Attack Kills at Least 30 as Iraqi Forces Press Baghdad Offensive - New York Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 30 - The violent backlash to the largest Iraqi-led counterinsurgency operation since the downfall of Saddam Hussein continued today in Baghdad and surrounding areas, with at least 30 people killed in a twin suicide bombing. And in eastern Diyala Province, an Iraqi Air Force aircraft carrying four Americans and one Iraqi was reported to have crashed.

More than two dozen were killed and 120 people were wounded when two suicide bombers hit a crowd of police officers in Hillah.

A brief United States military statement announcing the crash provided no details on the cause, the fate of those aboard or even the type of aircraft.

Citing officials it did not identify, Reuters reported that the aircraft went down around midday during a sandstorm near the town of Khanaqin, close to the border with Iran."