The main U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led force in northeastern Syria said Friday it lost nine fighters, including a commander, when two helicopters crashed this week in neighboring Iraq.
The group known as Syrian Democratic Forces said the helicopters crashed during bad weather while en route to the northern Iraqi city of Suleimaniyah on Wednesday night. The nine killed included elite fighters, the group said.
The SDF did not elaborate on the cause of the crash or provide further details. The group called on local authorities in Iraq to hand over the nine bodies so they could be brought home for burial in Syria. The SDF statement is in sharp contrast to a report on Thursday from Iraqi Kurdish authorities, which said that only one helicopter -- an AS350 Eurocopter -- had crashed in Iraq's Dohuk province in the northern semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region.
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