BAGHDAD, Iraq — Hundreds of Iraqi police candidates left restive Anbar province today for training in the capital, including 200 men who survived a suicide bombing last week that killed 58 people.

A U.S. Army reconnaissance helicopter went down near the northern city of Mosul and its two pilots were seriously injured as the aircraft came to the aid of Iraqi police under hostile fire, military officials said.

Both pilots of the OH-58 Kiowa, which is armed, were alive but unconscious when they were evacuated, Army Staff Sgt. Joel Burger, of the 172nd Stryker Brigade's 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, said at the scene of the crash. It was unclear why the helicopter went down about 2:15 p.m.

"They were not conscious. It's not looking good. I've spent a lot of time in Iraq and these guys were pretty beat up," Burger said.

Half of the 400 police candidates that left in a convoy from Ramadi for Baghdad were from Qaim, a frontier town near the Syrian border that has been the scene of repeated fighting between U.S. forces and insurgents — including many foreign fighters. Anbar is predominantly Sunni Arab and is the focal point of much of the insurgency in Iraq.

The other 200 candidates were from Ramadi, an insurgent hotbed where a suicide bomber hit applicants at a police recruitment center on Jan. 5, killing more than 30 people. "Despite that attack, the recruits returned en masse today," Marine Capt. Jeffrey S. Pool said.

The men are part of an effort to return police to Anbar, including Ramadi and nearby Fallujah.

"There are approximately 1,200 Iraqi police officers patrolling the streets of Fallujah with 400 more attending the Baghdad Police Academy. This is the first large group of Iraqi police candidates from Ramadi and the Western Euphrates River Valley to attend the Ministry of Interior's police training," Pool said from Ramadi.

U.S. soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team helped provide security for the convoy to Baghdad, he added.

U.S.-led coalition forces are helping train police and army units as part of the effort to turn over security to Iraqi forces.

The U.S. military has predicted more violence in the weeks ahead as Iraq's splintered groups struggle to form a government.