A US military refuelling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, in an incident US Central Command said involved another aircraft but was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.
It wasn’t immediately clear if there were casualties. A US official, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the developing situation, said the KC-135 aircraft that crashed had at least five crew members aboard.
The US has surged a large number of aircraft into the Middle East to take part in operations against Iran.
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In a statement, US Central Command said it was carrying out rescue efforts after the aircraft went down. The second aircraft landed safely.
“The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury, and rescue efforts are ongoing,” the statement said, using the name of the US operation against Iran.
This is the fourth US aircraft downed since the US and Israel started carrying out strikes against Iran on 28 February. Earlier this month, three US air force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down in a friendly fire incident by Kuwait air defenses. All crew members in those jets ejected safely.
Seven US troops have been killed in the conflict in the US-Israeli war on Iran, while Reuters reported on Tuesday that as many as 150 US troops have been wounded. The death toll in Iran is more than 1,300, according to the country’s UN ambassador.
Both Donald Trump and the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, have warned that the Iran war would probably claim more American lives before it ends.
Six of the fallen service members were killed when an Iranian drone struck an operations center at a civilian port in Kuwait. They were in the Army Reserve and worked in logistics, keeping troops supplied with food and equipment.
The seventh American service member died after being wounded during a 1 March attack on the Prince Sultan airbase, Saudi Arabia.
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