US refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq: US military

• A KC-135 Stratotanker carrying at least five US service members crashed in western Iraq after an unspecified mid-air incident with a second tanker.
• CENTCOM attributed the loss to a non-hostile accident, though rescue operations are still underway.
• The Islamic Resistance in Iraq—an umbrella for Iran-backed armed groups—formally claimed they shot down the aircraft with a missile. 

An American KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq while a second plane involved in the incident landed safely, the US military said Thursday.

"One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely. This was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire," US Central Command (CENTCOM), which is responsible for American forces in the Middle East, said in a statement.

Iran's military however said in a statement carried by state TV that an allied group in Iraq had downed the aircraft with a missile, killing all its crew.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which is a loose alliance of Iran-backed Iraqi factions, claimed to have downed a KC-135. They also said they had targeted another plane that escaped.

Since the start of the Middle East war, the alliance has been claiming daily attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region, but it rarely names its targets.

The KC-135 is at least the fourth US military aircraft lost during the war, after three F-15s were shot down by friendly fire over Kuwait.

KC-135s, which have been in operation for more than 60 years, generally have a crew of three -- a pilot, a copilot and a third who operates the boom used to refuel other aircraft, according to the US Air Force.

But some KC-135 missions require a navigator, and the aircraft can carry up to 37 passengers, an Air Force factsheet said.

Early in the war -- which began on February 28 -- Kuwaiti forces mistakenly downed three American F-15E fighters, but all six crew members were able to eject, according to CENTCOM.

That incident occurred during combat including "attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones," the military command said at the time.