Florida, March 13 -- The United States Central Command (US CENTCOM) on Friday confirmed the deaths of four crew members after a US refuelling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on Thursday.

In a statement, the US CENTCOM said that a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker went down at approximately 2 pm Eastern Time on March 12, with six crew members on board the aircraft at the time of the incident.

It further stated that rescue operations are currently underway.

CENTCOM further clarified that the loss of the aircraft was not caused by hostile fire or friendly fire.

"At approximately 2 pm ET on March 12, a U.S. KC-135 refuelling aircraft went down in western Iraq. Four of six crew members on board the aircraft have been confirmed deceased as rescue...