JUST IN: 6 Americans Now Confirmed Dead in Military Plane Crash Over Iraq

(Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP photo)

All six U.S. service members aboard a military refueling plane have been confirmed dead after the aircraft crashed in Iraq on Thursday, U.S. Central Command confirmed on Friday.

“All six crew members aboard a U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft that went down in western Iraq are now confirmed deceased,” CENTCOM said in a statement posted to X on Friday.

The Stratotanker, the U.S. military’s flying fuel station, went down at about 2 p.m. ET on Thursday during a mission over western Iraq.

The circumstances of the incident are under investigation. However, CENTCOM said the loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.

The plane went down after colliding with another KC-135 in the air, the Washington Post reported.

Addressing the crash during a press conference on Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, “War is hell, war is chaos, and as we saw yesterday with the tragic crash of our KC-135 tanker, bad things can happen. American heroes, all of them.”

The identities of the service members have not yet been revealed.

Earlier Friday, CENTCOM said four service members were dead in the crash, while search operations were underway for the remaining two passengers.

This is a developing story and has been updated.

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