US Air Force refueling plane crashes in Iraq, killing at least four of six on board

By Haley Britzky, Brad Lendon, CNN

(CNN) — Four US service members are dead after a US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker, a refueling aircraft, crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, the US military said, adding that the incident was “not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.”

Rescue efforts continue for two other personnel aboard the plane, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement early Friday.

A previous statement said that two aircraft were involved in an incident over western Iraq while operating during Operation Epic Fury, the name the Pentagon has given for the war with Iran.

“One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely. This was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire,” the statement said.

The Islamic Resistance of Iraq, an umbrella group of factions loyal to Iran, claimed responsibility for downing the aircraft, adding that it targeted a second KC-135, forcing it to make an emergency landing. The group did not provide evidence for its claims.

Israel’s ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, said in a post on X that one of the aircraft involved had landed safely in Israel.

Two images posted on Telegram by Israeli public broadcaster Kan, a CNN affiliate, showed a KC-135 aircraft with the top of its tail fin missing. Markings on the plane identified it as coming from Beale Air Force Base in California, which hosts the Air Force Reserve Command’s 940th Air Refueling Wing.

CENTCOM’s latest statement said the incident occurred at 2 p.m. ET Thursday. The military will withhold the identities of those involved for 24 hours after next of kin are notified.

The crew members’ deaths bring the number of US troops killed in connection to the war with Iran to 11.

Six US Army Reserve soldiers were killed in an attack on Kuwait’s Shuaiba port on March 1. Another service member died on Saturday after sustaining injuries during an attack in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.

Western Iraq is a sparsely populated mostly desert area. US and western forces in Iraq have come under fire from pro-Iran militias since the war with Iran broke out, but those attacks are mostly done by drones in the north of the country.

The KC-135 is effectively a flying gas station that allows aircraft to refuel in the sky to extend their range and remain within a battle zone for longer.

Its flight crew typically includes three to four service members, according to the Air Force: a pilot, a copilot and a boom operator, the person who refuels other aircraft mid-air. Some missions require navigators in the crew as well, an Air Force fact sheet said.

The jets can also be configured to carry cargo and medical patients.

The Air Force did not say what specific mission the jets involved in Thursday’s incident were performing.

The KC-135s are some of the oldest platforms in the US Air Force’s inventory, with the last unit delivered in 1965, according to an Air Force fact sheet.

The four-engine jets are based on the Boeing 707 passenger jet, with 376 units on active duty as of last year, according to a US congressional report. They have undergone significant upgrades over the years, including new engines.

The loss of the tanker is the fourth known manned aircraft loss in the war with Iran.

Last week, three F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets were shot down over Kuwait in a mistaken friendly fire incident; all six crew members ejected safely.

This is a developing news story and will be updated.

CNN’s Mostafa Salem contributed to this report.

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