US military aircraft crashes in west Iraq: coalition

A US military aircraft has crashed in western Iraq with American personnel aboard, the international coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group said on Thursday.

"Rescue teams are responding to the scene of the downed aircraft at this time," the US-led coalition said in a statement.

It did not specify the type of aircraft, whether or not there were casualties, or what caused the crash.

The US has operated both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft in Iraq during the war against IS, which overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014.

US forces began carrying out air strikes against IS in August 2014, a campaign that was later expanded to Syria, and has provided weapons, training and other support to forces fighting the jihadists in both countries.

Baghdad declared victory over the extremists late last year, but IS still has the ability to carry out deadly violence in Iraq, including a series of attacks in the country's north that left 25 dead earlier this month.