A pilot and radar intercept officer aboard the jet were rescued by a combat search and rescue team, according to a press release issued by the navy's Fifth Fleet and issued to reporters aboard this aircraft carrier in the Gulf.

Public affairs officers aboard the Kitty Hawk would not say whether the aircraft came from this carrier's Black Knights squadron or from elsewhere.

They provided no additional information about the incident.

The press release said the Tomcat crashed "due to mechanical failure." It said the rescue team took the crew, neither of whom was seriously injured, to a "coalition" airbase.

Tomcats, a supersonic, variable sweep-wing aircraft used in US-led strikes in Afghanistan two years ago, have been flying regular bombing missions over Iraq.

The crash was the third incident involving a US aircraft Tuesday.

A US Marine Corps pilot was in fair condition late Tuesday after his Harrier jump jet plunged into the Gulf as he tried to land on an amphibious assault ship in the Gulf, the navy said.

Early Tuesday two US Navy pilots received minor injuries when their S-3B Viking airborne refuelling tanker slid off the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Constellation and into the waters of the northern Gulf.

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