A US military HH-60 Black Hawk variant helicopter has crashed in western Iraq near the border with Syria, according to multiple US defense officials.
The officials cautioned that these are early reports and that the Pave Hawk was carrying seven personnel, but was not on a combat mission.
The officials said the early reports do not indicate hostile fire, but they emphasized they need to determine what happened.
Medivac and rescue forces were heading to the site early Friday morning (local time) according to the officials. There was no word on the fates of those on board.
The US-led coalition fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq issued a statement saying that “we are aware of reports of an incident involving a Coalition aircraft in the vicinity of Al Qaim, Iraq March 15, 2018. We are currently gathering the facts and coordinating with the appropriate national authorities. We will issue a statement at the appropriate time, but have nothing further to offer at the moment.”