A U.S. military aircraft carrying U.S. service members crashed in western Iraq, U.S. Central Command said in a statement late Thursday.
“Rescue teams are responding to the scene of the downed aircraft at this time,” the statement said.
The aircraft was thought to be a HH-60 helicopter, which crashed near al-Qaim, a town in Anbar province close to the Syrian border, according to a U.S. official citing initial reports.
The helicopter was carrying seven people and fatalities were “likely,” the official told Reuters.
The mayor of al-Qaim, Ahmed al-Mahlawi, also told Reuters there were seven people on board.
Further details of the incident weren’t known, but Central Command said an investigation would be launched to determine the cause of the crash.
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