An American KC-135 aerial refuelling aircraft has crashed in western Iraq while a second plane involved in the incident landed has safely, the US military has said, according to AFP.

“One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely. This was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire,” US Central Command (Centcom), which is responsible for American forces in the Middle East, said in a statement.

The KC-135 is at least the fourth US military aircraft lost during the war in the Middle East, after three F-15s were shot down by friendly fire over Kuwait.