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Islamic State 'rocket expert' responsible for attack on US base killed in strike Islamic State 'rocket expert' responsible for attack on US base killed in strike
(35 minutes later)
Jasim Khadijah, an Islamic State member believed to be responsible for a deadly attack by militants on US troops in northern Iraq, has been killed in a drone strike, a spokesman of the anti-Isis coalition said in Baghdad on Sunday. The anti-Islamic State coalition conducting airstrikes in Iraq and Syria has killed the Isis extremist believed responsible for an attack by militants on US troops in northern Iraq last month that left a marine dead, it said on Sunday.
Related: Marine killed in Isis attack died at unpublicised US-only base in IraqRelated: Marine killed in Isis attack died at unpublicised US-only base in Iraq
“He was a rocket expert, he was controlling these attacks,” the spokesman, US army colonel Steve Warren, told reporters. Jasim Khadijah, a former Iraqi officer not considered a high-value target, was killed by a drone strike overnight in northern Iraq, coalition spokesman US army colonel Steve Warren told reporters in Baghdad.
Warren was referring to the shelling last month of a base used by US troops in northern Iraq in which a US marine, staff sergeant Louis F Cardin, was killed and several others were wounded. “We have information [that] he was a rocket expert, he controlled these attacks,” said Warren, referring to the shelling of a base used by US troops near the town of Makhmour, located between Mosul and Kirkuk.
It was the second death of a US service member in combat since the US first struck the militant group in 2014. That attack killed marine staff sergeant Louis Cardin and wounded eight others, all part of a company sized detachment of less than 200 troops that provides force protection fire to Iraqi army troops, who are making slow progress in a campaign to clear areas around Mosul, an Isis stronghold.
Cardin’s was the second combat death of an American service member in Iraq since the start of the campaign to fight the militant group in 2014.
Warren said five other Islamic State fighters were killed in the air strike.
In Syria, meanwhile, Syrian and allied forces backed by Russian air strikes drove Isis militants out of the town of al-Qaryatain on Sunday, Syria’s military command said.In Syria, meanwhile, Syrian and allied forces backed by Russian air strikes drove Isis militants out of the town of al-Qaryatain on Sunday, Syria’s military command said.
Surrounded by hills, al-Qaryatain is 60 miles west of the ancient city of Palmyra, which government forces recaptured last Sunday.Surrounded by hills, al-Qaryatain is 60 miles west of the ancient city of Palmyra, which government forces recaptured last Sunday.