Four crew members killed after army refueling airplane crashes in Iraq, officers affirm | EUROtoday

Four of the six crew members aboard the U.S. KC-135 refueling plane that went down in western Iraq within the early hours of Friday morning have been confirmed useless, U.S. Central Command officers have stated.

Rescue efforts are persevering with, and the circumstances of the incident are beneath investigation, the officers stated, though the plane’s loss was not as a consequence of both hostile or pleasant fireplace.

The identities of the service members are at present being withheld till 24 hours after their subsequent of kin have been knowledgeable.

It was earlier reported the airplane went down following an “incident” involving one other U.S. airplane.

The second plane subsequently landed safely on the Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, CENTCOM stated.

“The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury,” it stated in its earlier assertion, referring to the joint U.S.-Israeli airstrike marketing campaign towards Iran that started on February 28.

Citing folks accustomed to the scenario, The Washington Post reported that the second airplane was additionally a KC-135.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of armed factions backed by Iran, has stated that it was chargeable for downing the plane, complicated the narrative.

The group stated in an announcement it had shot down the plane “in defence of our country’s sovereignty and airspace.”

The latest casualties take the total number of U.S. fatalities from the conflict so far to 11.

Both President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have warned that American deaths in the campaign are inevitable, with the president attracting criticism for describing the prospect in a social media video as, “the way it is,” a alternative of phrases some veterans felt was callous.

But Trump did subsequently observe the dignified switch of the primary six troopers killed at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, together with Vice President JD Vance, First Lady Melania Trump, and members of his cupboard.

Hegseth advised the CBS present 60 Minutes final weekend: “Things like this don’t happen without casualties. There will be more casualties.

“And no one is – I mean, especially our generation knows what it’s like to see Americans come home in caskets… But that doesn’t weaken us one bit. It stiffens our spine and our resolve to say this is a fight we will finish.”

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