The United States shot down one of its own planes off Cyprus Monday after it caught fire while heading for a reconnaissance mission over northern Iraq, a U.S. military spokesman said.
The crew of the E-2C Hawkeye bailed out safely before it was shot down by a U.S. Navy fighter."It seems there was an engine fire that could not be extinguished, but we don't know the cause yet," said Maj. John Curd, contacted at the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey.
He said fire broke out shortly after takeoff from the aircraft carrier Forrestal on a routine patrol in support of allied forces operating in northern Iraq.
"The five-man crew bailed out of the aircraft, which remained airborne on automatic pilot for reasons of safety. It was destroyed by an FA-18 Hornet, also from the Forrestal, about 40 miles southeast of Cyprus," he added.
Helicopters recovered the crew and flew them back to the Forrestal. None was seriously injured.
The plane, one of four Hawkeyes flying patrols from the Forrestal, was the first coalition aircraft lost since the United States and its allies launched Operation Provide Comfort to help Kurdish refugees in early April.
Curd said 8,527 allied troops were still attached to the operation, 3,404 of them in northern Iraq. A total of 5,736 Americans remained, including 1,510 in Iraq.
Elsewhere in the gulf, doubts about a new Arab security force have deepened with the postponement of a meeting among Egypt, Syria and the Gulf Cooperation Council. Officials of Kuwait's Information Ministry could give no reason for the postponement.