Iraqi Army Plane Crashes, 3 Crew Missing
An Iraqi army plane crashed during a reconnaissance flight near the city of Kirkuk on Wednesday and its three crew went missing, a high-ranking military source said, blaming a "technical problem".
The Islamic State jihadist group claimed it had shot down an Iraqi military plane in the area, killing five crew members.
The military source said authorities had launched a search for the crew after the Cessna 208 Caravan went down near Kirkuk, around 220 kilometers (135 miles) north of Baghdad.
In its combat version, the aircraft can be used to launch laser-guided Hellfire missiles.
In a statement on Twitter, IS said it had shot down a military plane with anti-aircraft artillery and that it had been on a bombing run against the city of Hawijah, a stronghold of the jihadists in Kirkuk province.
Iraqi forces have been making gains against the jihadists in recent months as they seek to reclaim territory seized by IS during a major offensive in 2014.
Hawijah, like other IS bastions across Iraq, is increasingly isolated as federal, Kurdish and tribal forces slowly close in.
The pressure has mounted on anti-IS forces to flush the jihadists out of the Hawijah area after a chemical attack was launched from the nearby village of Bashir last week.
The suspected mustard agent attack on the Kurdish-controlled town of Taza killed a three-year-old girl and left hundreds of people complaining of burns and respiratory problems.
The town's residents have demanded government action to retake Bashir, which is visible from the main road between Baghdad and Kirkuk, but has remained in IS hands since 2014.
Military coordination between the Kurdish peshmerga fighters and the government-allied Shiite Turkmen militia groups that also operate in the area has been difficult, slowing any operation against the jihadists.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has responded by promising that an operation against Bashir would get under way soon.
A senior military official in Kirkuk said that such an operation would further increase the pressure on Hawijah, which is IS's main remaining hub east of the Tigris.
IS shot down an Iraqi military helicopter on February 17, killing two crew members.
Two days earlier, an Iraqi Mi-17 helicopter crashed south of Baghdad due to a "technical problem", killing nine people.
Source: Agence France Presse
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