Washington // A US-led coalition air strike has killed two of ISIL’s senior military officials near the group’s stronghold in northern Iraq, the Pentagon said.
The air strike was carried out on June 25 near Mosul, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said.
“The precision strike killed Basim Muhammad Ahmad Sultan Al Bajari, ISIL’s deputy minister of war, and Hatim Talib Al Hamduni, an ISIL military commander in Mosul,” he said.
Mr Cook said Al Bajari was a former Al Qaeda member who joined ISIL and oversaw the extremists’ June 2014 offensive to capture Mosul.
He “also led the ISIL Jaysh Al Dabiq battalion known for using vehicle-borne IEDs [homemade bombs], suicide bombers and mustard gas in its attacks”.
Al Hamduni was a military commander in Mosul and the head of military police in the region, Mr Cook said.
Mosul is Iraq’s second-largest city and became the ISIL group’s de facto capital in the country.
ISIL was last month driven out of Fallujah, its other Iraqi stronghold, by Iraqi security forces who are now turning their attention to Mosul. A battle to liberate the city is expected to unfold in the coming months.
“Removing these terrorist leaders from the battlefield shapes the environment for Iraqi forces to ultimately liberate Mosul with support from the international coalition,” Mr Cook said.
* Agence France-Presse
