Tuesday, June 28 2005 11:17 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Baghdad: Two US crewmen were killed yesterday (Jun 28, 2005) when an Apache attack helicopter crashed in Iraq as insurgents kept on with deadly attacks in Baghdad despite a massive security operation in the capital.

In the face of the unrelenting violence, US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld confirmed contacts with rebels in a bid to stem the carnage but warned the insurgency could go on for years.

The two members of the Apache crew were killed when the helicopter came down northwest of Baghdad, a military statement said, without providing information on the cause, which is under investigation.

An Interior Ministry source said the aircraft hit the ground near the town of Mishahda, around 40 kms from Baghdad.

Violence continued on the ground, a year after the handover of sovereignty by the US-led occupation forces, which ousted Saddam Hussein in April 2003.

Seven Iraqis were wounded when a rocket slammed into a restaurant in the centre of the capital near a busy bus and taxi station, and an Iraqi and his wife were killed when two homemade bombs exploded as they drove past a local council hall.

Late on Sunday (Jun 26, 2005), three people including a policeman and a nine-year-old boy, were shot dead when insurgents attacked a barbershop in the south-eastern Baghdad neighbourhood of Al-Jadidah, an Interior Ministry source said.

Gunmen opened fire on the shop in the bustling district where Sunni Arabs, Iraqi Shiites and Christians live together, then blew it up and fled, the source said.

Several barbershops in Iraq have been hit by Muslim extremists who believe men's beards should be allowed to grow unhindered.

Meanwhile, Baghdad International Airport reopened after a shutdown caused by a dispute between Iraqi officials and the London-based group that handles security for passengers and baggage.

In the United States, Rumsfeld confirmed a British newspaper report that US officials had met with insurgents in a bid to stem the violence.

He said Iraq's insurgency could last years, but that Washington would hand over to Iraqis the job of rounding up the rebels.

Rumsfeld told US television that Iraqi forces, not foreign troops, would have to defeat the insurgency.

"That insurgency could go on for any number of years. Insurgencies tend to go on five, six, eight, 10, 12 years," he said.

Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi had said on Sunday that he doubted contacts between US officials and insurgent groups would stem the attacks.

The deadly violence has gathered pace despite the installation of a new Government headed by Jaafari in May following the country's first democratic elections in half a century.