All 6 Crew Members Killed as US Air Force Refueling Plane Crashes in Iraq, Military Says
Six crew members were killed when a US Air Force refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, US Central Command announced Friday morning.
The Tampa, Fla.-based command said the crash of the KC-135 Stratotanker followed an unspecified incident involving two aircraft in “friendly airspace”
“The circumstances of the incident are under investigation. However, the loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire,” CENTCOM pointedly declared in a statement..
The second aircraft, also a KC-135, landed safely in Israel, according to Yechiel Leiter, the Jewish state’s ambassador to the US.
The military was withholding the identities of the crew members until 24 hours after their families were notified. War Secretary Pete Hegseth lauded the fallen as heroes during a Pentagon news conference Friday. (Read more from “All 6 Crew Members Killed as US Air Force Refueling Plane Crashes in Iraq, Military Says” HERE)
