US F-16 fighter plane crashes in Iraq

Dubai, June 16: A US Air Force F-16 plane with one crew member aboard crashed during a mission in Iraq today, the Air Force said in a statement.

The plane ''was flying on a close air support mission'', the statement said without clarifying the pilot's fate.

''The cause of the accident is under investigation,'' it said.

The plane was deployed to the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, whose headquarters are at an air base near Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad.

At least nine helicopters have come down in Iraq in 2007, killing 30 people, mainly US soldiers, but military plane crashes have been rare.

In May 2005, two Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet aircraft crashed in Iraq and officials said at the time they believed the warplanes may have collided in mid-air.

Reuters>