Tikrit, Iraq ? An Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed Friday — apparently shot down by insurgents — killing all six U.S. soldiers aboard and capping the bloodiest seven days in Iraq for Americans since the fall of Baghdad.

In retaliation, American troops backed by Bradley fighting vehicles swept through Iraqi neighborhoods before dawn today, blasting houses suspected of being insurgent hideouts with machine guns and heavy weapons fire.

“This is to remind the town that we have teeth and claws and we will use them,” said Lt. Col. Steven Russell, commander of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment.

Russell also said the 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew, which had been lifted at the Oct. 27 start in Iraq of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, was reinstated Friday night.

The U.S. death toll for the week climbed to 32, including those aboard the Black Hawk. Two other soldiers were killed near Mosul, raising concerns that the insurgency was pushing north.

U.S. policy, meanwhile, suffered another setback as Turkey decided not to send troops to Iraq because of strong opposition from Iraqi officials.

Third crash in two weeks

The Black Hawk crashed on an island in the Tigris River and burst into flames — the third crash caused by hostile fire in two weeks and the second causing fatalities. Maj. Josslyn Aberle said the cause of the crash had not been determined, but several other officers believed it was shot down.

“We believe it was something fired from the ground from the side of the river,” Russell said. “We believe it was brought down by gunfire.”

A U.S. military vehicle searches the site after a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed into a riverbank near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, killing six U.S. soldiers, the military said. It probably was hit Friday by a rocket-propelled grenade, an officer said.

After the raids before dawn today, intermittent explosions and the crackle of random gunfire could be heard across Tikrit.

The helicopter, assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, went down about 9:40 a.m. about a half mile from the U.S. base in Saddam Hussein’s former palace, which serves as headquarters for the 4th Infantry Division.

Afterward, attack helicopters cruised throughout the day over Saddam’s hometown, swooping low over villages and farms as rescuers picked through the charred wreckage of the aircraft.

Late Friday, U.S. troops fired mortars and a U.S. jets dropped at least three 500-pound bombs around the crash site, rattling windows over a wide area in an apparent show of force. Other U.S. jets streaked over Tikrit after sundown. At least three mortars were also fired onto the U.S. compound but caused no damage.

The dead included the Black Hawk’s four-member crew and two soldiers from Department of the Army headquarters, according to a Pentagon spokesman, Maj. Steve Stover.

Violence in the north

In Mosul, 250 miles north of Baghdad, guerrillas attacked a convoy with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire Friday. The military said one U.S. soldier died and six others were wounded in the clash. Another soldier died in Mosul the night before when a homemade bomb exploded, the military said Friday.

Both of those soldiers, as well as the Black Hawk’s four-man crew, were from the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Ky.

Three others were injured later Friday when a roadside bomb exploded near the Mosul Hotel, which is now used as a military barracks, the military said. Mosul, Iraq’s third largest city, had been considered relatively safe for American soldiers until an escalation of attacks there over the past three weeks.

Missing missiles

U.S. officers have long been concerned about the safety of aviation because of the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of shoulder-fired missiles still missing in Iraq after the collapse of Saddam’s regime in April.

On Oct. 25, insurgents shot down a Black Hawk over Tikrit, injuring one crewman. On Sunday, insurgent gunners brought down a Chinook transport helicopter west of Baghdad, killing 16 Americans in the bloodiest single strike against U.S. forces since the war began March 20.

An Apache attack helicopter was shot down in June in the western desert but the two crew members escaped injury.

Turkey won’t go

U.S. officials had hoped to encourage more countries to send troops to Iraq to relieve the burden on American forces. Turkey’s parliament agreed last month to allow the government to send Turkish troops, a move which drew sharp opposition from Iraqi politicians.

But Secretary of State Colin Powell and Turkey’s foreign minister have agreed that Turkey will not send peacekeeping troops to Iraq, officials said Friday, after plans for a deployment raised sharp opposition from Iraqis.

The decision reverses what had been a significant victory for Washington, which has pressed hard for Turkey to join peacekeeping efforts in its neighbor to the southeast to help U.S. troops there. Turkey is the only majority Muslim nation in NATO.