Three Iranian pilots have been killed in US strikes, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday.
The deceased were identified as Mojtaba Bagheri, Hamed Okati and Hosseini Mahdavian. Bagheri and Okati were naval pilots, while Mahdavian served as an air force pilot, according to Iranian authorities.
Iran did not disclose where the three pilots were killed. It also did not say whether they were flying fighter aircraft or participating in military operations when they were killed.
The IRGC’s announcement came alongside reports of the deaths of six other naval personnel.Iranian state media reported that at least 19 people were killed across the country on Tuesday and Wednesday in what it described as extensive US airstrikes.
According to Iranian media reports, seven people were killed in Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran, while four IRGC members were reported killed in Kermanshah province.
Three members of a paramilitary force were reportedly killed on Lavan Island in the Persian Gulf, while another person was killed in Fars province.
Iranian officials also blamed a US strike for the deaths of four people attending a wedding ceremony in Hormozgan province.
It was not immediately clear whether the six naval personnel previously reported killed in Khuzestan were among the seven fatalities listed by Iranian authorities in the province.
The casualty figures and details of the strikes were reported by Iranian sources and could not be independently verified.
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