It was the second US warplane reported down over Iraq in two days, following the announcement that an A-10 Thunderbolt strike aircraft had crashed Tuesday after apparently being hit by a surface-to-air missile over Baghdad.

In that incident, "the pilot was recovered and medivac'ed out," General Buford Blount said at Baghdad's Saddam International Airport.

The two crewmen in the F-15E downed Sunday had been deployed from the 4th Fighter Wing out of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina, the defense department said in a statement.

It did not say they were presumed to have been taken prisoner, but warned that coalition forces "expect Iraqi forces and Iraqi citizens to abide by all Geneva Conventions relating to the treatment of prisoners.

"Violations of these laws will bring swift and severe consequences," said the statement.

The cause of the crash was under investigation, it said, not stipulating why it took two days to announce the crash.

The F-15E "Eagle" is a two-place tactical jet fighter whose high speed and extreme maneuverability have given it a reputation as the top-of-the-line performance craft in the US conventional war fleet.

SPACE.WIRE