Inexperienced Iraqi military pilots mistakenly dropped supplies including food, water and ammunition to an area controlled by ISIS militants, international media report.

The supplies were intended for Iraqi army soldiers who had been fighting Islamist extremists in the country’s western province of Anbar for a whole week.

Commenting on the incident, Hakim Al-Zamili, an Iraqi MP who is also a member of the security and defense committee told NBC network: “Those soldiers were in deadly need of these supplies, but because of the wrong plans of the commanders in the Iraqi army and lack of experience of the pilots, we in a way or another helped ISIS fighters to kill our soldiers.”

A brigadier-general in Iraq’s Defense Ministry, who asked to remain anonymous, confirmed that the incident occurred on September 19, adding that many air force pilots do not have enough experience. “They are all young and new,” he said.

Both officials stated that there would be an investigation to determine the cause of the air drop blunder.