The US Department of War identified on Saturday the six military personnel who died last Thursday when their KC-135 plane crashed in western Iraq, while participating in operations supporting Operation Epic Fury, launched by the United States and Israel against Iran.

Dead military personnel

Among The victims are:

These three belonged to the Sixth Air Refueling Wing, based at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, which is also the headquarters of Army Central Command (Centcom).

The other fallen service members are:

They were assigned to the 121st Air Refueling Wing, at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus, Ohio.

Cause of the accident and conflicting accounts

The Pentagon reported that the accident occurred in allied airspace and that it “was not due to hostile or friendly fire.”

However, an Iranian spokesperson for the Unified Operations Command, Khatam al-Anbiya, claimed that the aircraft was hit by a missile fired by resistance groups in western Iraq, according to statements cited by the Fars news agency.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard added that the impact occurred while the KC-135 It was refueling another “enemy” fighter jet, which managed to make an emergency landing with its crew safe.

US Casualty Count Since the Start of the Conflict

With these six deaths, the total number of US soldiers killed since the start of the war against Iran on February 28 has reached 14. Seven died in Iranian attacks, one from a “medical emergency” in Kuwait, and the rest in this accident in Iraq.