Rescue mission underway after US navy airplane crashes in western Iraq | EUROtoday

A rescue mission was underway after a US navy refuelling plane crashed in Iraq, US Central Command stated.

The KC-135 refuelling plane went down in western Iraq after an “incident” involving one other US plane. The second plane landed safely on the Ben Gurion Airport in Israel on Thursday night, Centcom stated, claiming the incident was “not due to hostile fire or friendly fire”.

“The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury,” it stated in a press release, utilizing the navy identify of the US operation towards Iran.

The reason for the crash was not instantly clear, however Centcom stated extra info can be made accessible “as the situation develops”.

A US official, talking on the situation of anonymity, informed Reuters the opposite plane concerned within the incident was additionally a KC-135 and the one which crashed had as many as six service members on board.

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Meanwhile, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of armed factions backed by Iran, claimed duty for downing the plane.

The group stated in a press release it had shot down the KC-135 plane “in defence of our country’s sovereignty and airspace”.

The KC-135, developed by Boeing within the Fifties and early Nineteen Sixties, is the spine of the US navy’s air refuelling fleet. Refuelling plane play a key function in wars by retaining fighter jets and bombers adequately fuelled for fight without having to land.

Last week, three US fighter jets had been shot down over Kuwait in what American officers described as a “friendly fire incident”.

Footage posted on-line confirmed a jet falling from the sky in flames and a CNN evaluation of the video urged it was an F-15E twin-engine fighter jet. All six aircrew ejected safely and survived.

The US has despatched numerous plane to the Middle East because the starting of the warfare towards Iran on 28 February. Since the US and Israel began finishing up strikes towards Iran, at the very least seven US troops have been killed.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that as many as 150 US troops had been wounded within the warfare thus far. In all, over 2,000 folks had been killed, together with nearly 700 by the Israeli navy in Lebanon.

French president Emmanuel Macron stated a soldier from his nation was killed and a number of other had been wounded throughout an assault in northern Iraq, hours after an Italian base was additionally focused within the space.

Meanwhile, president Donald Trump stated on Thursday that the state of affairs in Iran was “moving along very rapidly” however signalled that the warfare would proceed.

“Our military is unsurpassed, there’s never been anything like it, nobody’s ever seen anything like it,” he stated. “They really are a nation of terror and hate, and they’re paying a big price right now.”

Iran has warned it won’t again down regardless of sustaining heavy injury to civilian and navy infrastructure.

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On Thursday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned it could set the area’s oil and fuel websites “on fire” if there have been assaults on its power infrastructure, based on CNN.

“In the event of such aggression, all the region’s oil and gas infrastructure in which the United States and its Western allies have a vested interest will be set on fire and destroyed,” they stated.

Earlier, Ali Larijani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, stated Tehran would “not relent until you are sorry for this grave miscalculation”, addressing the US president.

Tehran on Thursday launched a press release from the brand new supreme chief, Mojtaba Khamenei, saying Iran would combat on and hold the Strait of Hormuz closed as leverage towards the US and Israel.

“I assure everyone that we will not neglect avenging the blood of your martyrs,” it stated.

Mr Khamenei didn’t seem in particular person and his remarks had been learn out by a state tv presenter.

Hours later, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu used his first press convention because the begin of the warfare to challenge a veiled risk to assassinate the brand new supreme chief.

“I wouldn’t challenge life insurance coverage insurance policies on any of the leaders of the terrorist organisation,” he stated. “I don’t intend to give an exact message here about what we are planning or what we are going to do.”