A US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker tanker crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, killing four US service members, the US military said, adding that the accident was “not caused by hostile or friendly fire.”
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement early Friday that efforts to rescue the two other members aboard the plane continued.
An earlier statement said the two planes were involved in an accident over western Iraq during Operation Epic Fury, the Pentagon’s name for the war with Iran.
“One aircraft crashed in western Iraq, the second landed safely. The crash was not caused by hostile or friendly fire,” the statement said.
The Iraqi Islamic Resistance Movement, an umbrella organization for factions loyal to Iran, claimed responsibility for the downing of the plane, adding that it targeted a second KC-135, forcing it to make an emergency landing. The group provided no evidence for its claims.
In a post on X, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Echiel Leiter, said one of the planes involved landed safely in Israel.
Two images posted on Telegram by Israeli public broadcaster KAN, a CNN affiliate, showed a KC-135 aircraft with the upper part of its tail missing. Markings on the plane showed it came from Beale Air Force Base in California, where the Air Force Reserve Command’s 940th Air Refueling Wing is based.
The incident occurred at 2pm ET on Thursday, according to CENTCOM’s latest statement. The military will not release the identities of those involved for 24 hours after next of kin has been notified.
The deaths of the crew bring the number of U.S. soldiers killed in connection with the war with Iran to 11.
On March 1, six U.S. Army Reserve soldiers were killed in an attack on Kuwait’s Shuaiba port. Another service member died on Saturday after being wounded in an attack in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.
Western Iraq is sparsely populated and mostly desert. Since the outbreak of the war with Iran, U.S. and Western troops in Iraq have come under fire from pro-Iranian militias, mostly by drones in northern Iraq.
The KC-135 is effectively a flying gas station, allowing the aircraft to refuel in the air to extend its range and stay in a combat zone longer.
According to the Air Force, its air crews typically consist of three to four military personnel: a pilot, co-pilot and a boom operator who refuels other aircraft in the air. Some missions also require a navigator on the crew, according to an Air Force fact sheet.
The jet can also be configured to carry cargo or medical patients.
The Air Force did not say what specific mission the fighter jets involved in Thursday’s incident were performing.
The KC-135 is some of the oldest platforms in the U.S. Air Force’s inventory, with the last units delivered in 1965, according to an Air Force fact sheet.
The four-engine plane is based on the Boeing 707 airliner, with 376 in active service as of last year, according to a U.S. Congressional report. They have received significant upgrades over the years, including new engines.
The loss of the tanker is the fourth known loss of manned aircraft in the war with Iran.
Last week, three F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets were shot down by accident over Kuwait. All six crew members escaped safely.
This is a developing news article and will be updated.
CNN’s Mostafa Salem contributed to this report.
