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Photo A United States Air Force HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter, like the one above, crashed in western Iraq on Thursday. Credit Mark Ralston/Agence France-Presse Getty Images

WASHINGTON An American military helicopter crashed Thursday near the city of Qaim in western Iraq, killing some of the seven service members aboard, United States officials said.

It was unclear why the aircraft, an HH-60 Pave Hawk, went down, the officials added. They did not rule out ground fire, and they could not confirm how many people had been killed.

One official said the helicopter was not on a combat operation but was ferrying troops.

Maj. Adrian J. Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said Thursday night that rescue personnel had been deployed and that the crash, in Anbar Province, near Syria, was under investigation.

Ahmed al-Mahilawi, the mayor of Qaim, said that the helicopter crashed about 20 miles southeast of the town center, near a phosphate factory and railway station. The American military uses a base in the area.

Local residents reported that the helicopter crashed shortly after takeoff, Mr. Mahilawi said in a telephone interview.

Coalition forces have sealed off the area of the crash, he said, adding that preliminary indications were that the helicopter had a technical malfunction. He did not have any information on fatalities or the number of people on board.

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U.S. Military Helicopter Crashes in Iraq With Seven Aboard ...