US military plane crashes at Taji military base

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A US Air Force jet veered from the runway and collided with a concrete wall at Taji military base on Monday night,  a military official told Rudaw English. 

A US Air Force C-130 “overshot the runway and crashed into a concrete wall” at the base at approximately 10.10pm on Monday night, coalition spokesperson Col. Myles B Caggins III told Rudaw English. 

The plane sustained structural damage and a small fire broke out at the scene before being quickly extinguished. 

“Four service members on the plane sustained non-life-threatening injuries and are being treated at Camp Taji’s medical facility,” Caggins said. 

Enemy activity is “not suspected” and an investigation has been launched into the incident, he added. 

Taji military base,  located north of Baghdad, hosts US military personnel in the country to advise and train troops in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS). 

The base has previously been targeted in rocket attacks, with two Americans and one Briton killed in an attack on the base in March. 

The base was one of several targeted in rocket attacks by Iran-backed militias in January following the US assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani at Baghdad International Airport on January 3.