The Pentagon confirmed Tuesday that an MQ-1 drone crashed in Iraq on its way back to its recovery base.

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The confirmation came after pictures surfaced on Twitter of the drone.

NEW photo :The U.S drone that crashed in Samawa province ( near the cement factory) pic.twitter.com/0j93LoE2az — Steven Nabil (@stevoiraq) July 21, 2015

A Pentagon spokesman said the aircraft was returning from an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission when "technical complications" caused a loss of communication with the aircraft July 16.

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The U.S. has deployed drones to Iraq and Syria, to gather intelligence and conduct strikes in its air campaign against the islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The spokesman said the drone was unarmed.

"There were no weapons on board the aircraft. We are working with Iraqi authorities to recover the aircraft," Defense Department spokesman Army Maj. Roger Cabiness said in a statement.

The crash occurred in a government-controlled desert area near Samawah, a city about 280 miles southeast of Baghdad, according to Reuters.

Samawah intelligence chief Brigidier Saad al-Waeli told Reuters that intelligence teams had located a plane body after receiving reports from factory workers.

"Our initial report shows that the plane was an American drone," he told Reuters.