Mosul, Iraq ? Insurgents apparently shot down a U.S. Army reconnaissance helicopter in this northern city Friday, killing its two pilots, in the second fatal helicopter crash in Iraq in less than a week.

One witness said he heard machine-gun fire before the helicopter crashed, and children told soldiers that the sound of gunfire came from three or four directions and that the helicopter was flying erratically, possibly trying to evade it.

The helicopter looked like it crashed on a muddy plateau and then cartwheeled down a 25-foot embankment that was sloped at a 45-degree angle. It came to rest near strewn garbage. The helicopter’s two pilots – the only people aboard – were killed.

The pilots may have tried to land it in the dirt clearing, about 20 feet from some mud huts with clothes hanging along lines.

The crash came as Lt. Gen. John Vines, chief of the Multi-National Corps Iraq, predicted increased attacks around Iraq when final election results are released next week. At least 500 people and more than 50 U.S. troops have been killed since the Dec. 15 elections.

Vines, the second highest ranking general in Iraq, said from Baghdad’s Camp Victory that there were indications the OH-58 Kiowa was shot down. “The indicators are that it was due to hostile fire,” he said.

The armed helicopter was on a combat air patrol just outside Forward Operating Base Courage when it went down in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, the military said.

The crumpled wreckage of a U.S. military helicopter lies on its side in Mosul, Iraq. The reconnaissance helicopter went down Friday, killing its two pilots. Military officials say that there were indications the crash was caused by hostile ground fire.

The crash deaths bring the number of U.S. service members killed in Iraq since the beginning of the war in 2003 to at least 2,214, according to an Associated Press count.

Maj. Richard Greene, executive officer of the 172nd Stryker Brigade’s 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, said the helicopter “was responding to small arms fire being taken by Iraqi police.”

Greene said the gunmen were not found.

Of reports the helicopter was shot down, Greene said, “I think I’d give that some credibility.”

Army Lt. Joe Vanty, 32, of West Hartford, Conn., said it was “very credible” that the aircraft was shot down.

Vanty’s platoon heard small arms fire and went toward the sound. The platoon came under fire from four directions, and he said two helicopters were seen overhead. Shortly afterward, the soldiers were told one had gone down and they moved in that direction.

In Baqouba, a car bomb exploded near a police patrol, killing two officers and wounding six people, said Ahmed Hassan of the morgue in the city 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.