According to the Iraqi Alsumaria TV network, the US defense official said on condition of anonymity that the drone crashed on Thursday afternoon local time.
Pointing to the issue that the drone was recovered by Iraqi security forces, the American official said that it is unclear if the damaged drone has been returned to US custody yet and if the drone crashed or if it was shot down, so authorities continue to investigate the reason behind the incident.
Earlier, some armed Iraqi groups announced that they had shot down a US MQ-9 drone, which was used for spying and bombing purposes, over Iraqi airspace.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq also published a breaking news on its Telegram channel on Saturday and announced the downing of another unidentified UAV in Iraq. The umbrella group of Iraqi anti-terror fighters has not published any information about the details of the incident yet.
On Friday night, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq also issued a statement and took responsibility for shooting down an American drone in eastern Iraq. The downed UVA was flying from Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait towards Diyala Governorate in eastern Iraq.
Following the onset of the Israeli regime’s aggression against the Gaza Strip on October 7, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq conducted numerous attacks on the US military bases in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for Washington’s all-out support for the Israeli crimes in the war.
4208**9417