MNA � According to Alforat News, an American C-27J transport aircraft has crashed west of al-Anbar province.

The report noted that no Iraqi or American official has commented on the incident yet, adding that four of the crew on board have also been killed.

The report comes as an American spy plane, a Bombardier E-11A, came down in Afghanistan early Monday. The Taliban claimed to have brought it down, however, a US defense official claimed that a preliminary probe showed there was a mechanical error. Neither US officials nor any members of the international force in Afghanistan have visited the site of the crash.

US media broke their partial news blackout on the incident, with some reporting the crash late on Monday.

The aircraft has been identified as Bombardier E-11A belonging to the US Air Force. It is the military variant of the civil Bombardier BD-700 Global Express for use as an overhead communications-relay platform in Southwest Asia.