All six crew members aboard a US army KC-135 refueling plane that crashed in western Iraq are confirmed to have been killed, the US army mentioned on Friday.
The refueling plane crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, in an incident the army mentioned concerned one other plane however was not the results of hostile or pleasant hearth.
The deaths add to the seven US service members who’ve been killed as a part of US assaults on Iran, which started on February 28.
“The circumstances of the incident are beneath investigation. Nonetheless, the lack of the plane was not resulting from hostile hearth or pleasant hearth,” an announcement from US Central Command mentioned.
Talking with reporters on the Pentagon on Friday, US Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth mentioned operations towards Iran would proceed.
“Struggle is hell. Struggle is chaos, and as we noticed yesterday with the tragic crash of our KC-135 tanker, dangerous issues can occur,” Hegseth mentioned.
A US official advised Reuters that the second plane concerned within the crash, which landed safely, was additionally a army refueling plane often known as the KC-135.
The US has deployed numerous plane into the Center East to participate within the conflict on Iran. The incident highlights the danger of not simply operations but additionally of refueling plane within the air.
The KC-135, constructed by Boeing within the Nineteen Fifties and early Nineteen Sixties, has served because the spine of the US army’s air refueling fleet and is important to permitting plane to hold out missions with out having to land.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed accountability for downing the US army refueling plane.
Reuters has reported that as many as 150 US troops have been wounded within the US-Israeli conflict on Iran. The crash occurred the identical day two US sailors have been injured after the USS Gerald Ford suffered a non-combat-related hearth on board.
The primary seven US troops have been killed when a drone slammed right into a US army facility in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait and in one other assault in Saudi Arabia.
US President Donald Trump and different senior officers have warned the Iran battle will end in extra US army deaths as Tehran retaliates towards US and Israeli strikes.
