Coalition Airstrikes Destroy ISIS Convoy In Iraq
Officials aren’t clear whether the top ISIS commander was part of the vehicle convoy.
The U.S. and its coalition partners have carried out air strikes targeting a number of ISIS members near the city of Mosul in northern Iraq, the Pentagon has announced.
The strikes were targeting a suspected gathering of leaders of the Islamist militants.
“I can confirm that coalition aircraft did conduct a series of airstrikes yesterday evening in Iraq against what was assessed to be a gathering of ISIL leaders near Mosul, destroying a vehicle convoy consisting of 10 ISIL armed trucks,” Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Crosson told BuzzFeed News in a statement, using an alternative name for the militant group.
ISIS leader, and self-declared caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was known to have been in Mosul in July, the BBC reported, but the Pentagon says it is not clear if he was part of the convoy.
“We cannot confirm if ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was among those present,” Crosson said.
“This strike demonstrates the pressure we continue to place on the ISIL terrorist network and the group's increasingly limited freedom to maneuver, communicate and command,” he said.
The strikes came after the Obama administration announced earlier this week that an additional 1,500 troops will be sent to Iraq in a non-combat capacity to assist that country combat ISIS militants.
ISIS fighters stand guard at a checkpoint in the northern Iraq city of Mosul, in this June 11, 2014 photo.