This Friday, the United States communicated that four of the six members of the crew of the KC-135 tanker aircraft that crashed in western Iraq have lost their lives. A US KC-135 tanker crashed in western Iraq. Four of the six crew members on board have lost their lives, while rescue operations are ongoing, according to US Central Command. This agency also indicated that an investigation is underway into «the circumstances of the incident,» although it emphasised that the aircraft’s crash «was not caused by enemy fire or friendly fire.» An Iran-backed militia, known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, claimed responsibility for the aircraft’s downfall, asserting that its members used air defence systems to attack the aircraft, resulting in its crash. The organisation also indicated that a second US aircraft was attacked in western Iraq, and that the plane had to perform an emergency landing at «one of the enemy’s airports,» while its crew managed to escape alive. However, Centcom does not support this claim and has not reported any attack on a second aircraft.