Downed US pilot captured, claims Iraq

Iraqi officials claimed to have captured a coalition pilot today.

He was captured, they said, after being forced to eject from his aircraft over Baghdad.

British officials said they had no information about any downed plane, but US Defence Secretary Rumsfeld later said there had been a report of a missing aircraft.

The search for the pilot started after witnesses said they had seen parachutes fall in the area.

The Iraqi military scoured the Tikrit River and fired shots into bushes along the river banks during the search.

Police also set fire to the brush and fired shots near the base of the al-Tahrir bridge. Small boats patrolled the river, searching the murky brown waters. Police and security cut off roads leading into the area.

Crowds and television cameras gathered quickly, and hundreds of civilians tried to join the search.

The search began soon after air raid sirens had sounded in Baghdad.

A spokesman for the US Central Command said it had no information about the report, and a spokesman at the British Ministry of Defence in London said he had no confirmation of a plane down.

"We're aware of the claims on Iraqi TV," the spokesman said . "But we've got no information about British pilots down in any parts of Iraq."

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