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Pentagon confirms death of six crew members of refueling aircraft in Iran war

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Air Force Airmen from the 28th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron conduct a pre-flight brief outside of a KC-135 Stratotanker, before an aerial refueling mission in Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, in this undated handout picture released by U.S. Air Force on August 1, 2019. Chris Drzazgowski/U.S. Air Force/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS- THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY./File Photo

David Edwards
March 13, 2026

The Pentagon confirmed that all six crew members aboard a KC-135 refueling aircraft were killed when it went down on Thursday in Western Iraq.

In a press release on Thursday, CENTCOM admitted that it was aware of the loss of the aircraft and insisted that it did not go down "due to hostile fire or friendly fire."

On Friday, CENTCOM said that "all six crew members aboard a U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft that went down in western Iraq are now confirmed deceased."

"The aircraft was lost while flying over friendly airspace March 12 during Operation Epic Fury."

CENTCOM continued to insist that the aircraft did not crash because of hostile or friendly fire.

The identities of the service members were being withheld for 24 hours.

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