WASHINGTON (Reuters): A U.S. military refuelling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on Thursday (March 12), in an incident U.S. Central Command said involved another aircraft but was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.
The United States has deployed a large number of aircraft into the Middle East to take part in operations against Iran, and the incident highlights the risk of operations, even over friendly skies.
In a statement, U.S. Central Command said it was carrying out rescue efforts after the U.S. KC-135 refuelling aircraft went down. The second aircraft landed safely.
"The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury," the statement said, using the military name of the U.S. operation against Iran.
A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the other aircraft involved in the incident was also a KC-135, and the one that crashed had as many as six service members on board.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, claimed responsibility for downing the U.S. military refuelling aircraft.
The group said in a statement it had shot down the KC-135 aircraft "in defence of our country's sovereignty and airspace".
The KC-135, built by Boeing in the 1950s and early 1960s, has served as the backbone of the U.S. military's air refuelling fleet and is critical to allow aircraft to carry out missions without having to land.
Since the U.S. and Israel started carrying out strikes against Iran on February 28, seven U.S. troops have been killed. The United States has carried out strikes against more than 6,000 targets in Iran.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that as many as 150 U.S. troops have been wounded in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. News of the crash comes the same day two U.S. sailors were injured after the USS Gerald Ford suffered a non-combat-related fire on board.
So far, the war has killed more than 2,000 people, including almost 700 in Lebanon. (Reporting by Idrees Ali and Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Chris Reese, Lincoln Feast and Christopher Cushing). – Reuters
