The strike could be the deadliest that the militant group has ever faced. Iraq’s Defense Ministry has released footage showing airstrikes on dozens of vehicles, which officials said was an IS convoy fleeing the western city of Fallujah following its recapture by the Iraqi military.
Advertisement
Islamic State militants on Wednesday pushed back USA -trained Syrian rebels from the outskirts of a town on the Iraqi border, in a setback to a budding offensive that aims to sever the militants’ transit link between the two countries, a rebel spokesman said.
A third major assault is also underway in the city of Manbij in northern Syria, where an alliance of US -backed militias has begun an offensive against the Islamic State.
The airstrikes come a day after three suicide bombers blasted Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport, killing at least 42 people and leaving more than 230 wounded.
Also Thursday, the United Nations children’s fund warned that the Islamic State surge in Iraq and the military operation to route the extremist group from captured territory have had a “catastrophic impact”, with about 4.7 million Iraqi children in need of humanitarian assistance.
US-backed Syrian fighters battling the Islamic State group have snatched thousands of documents, cellphones and other digital devices from the jihadists, a Pentagon official said on Wednesday.
A series of major U.S. airstrike near Fallujah, Iraq, is said to have killed 260 fighters.
At least 200 vehicles carrying Islamic State militants were destroyed in airstrikes on Wednesday alone.
Iraq finally declared Fallujah fully liberated last week after government troops entered the al-Julan neighborhood in the northwestern part of the city, which had been IS’ last remaining stronghold.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said late Wednesday his country will overcome terror groups, including Kurdish rebels and ISIS, which have intensified their attacks.
ISIS has suffered a string of military defeats in Iraq over the past year.
The New Syrian Army was formed some 18 months ago from rebel fighters driven out of eastern Syria by ISIS as it expanded its territories in mid-2014 following the capture of the Iraqi city of Mosul. More than 20 Iraqi gunships pursed the retreating terrorists, who were later attacked by tribal militia fighting with the Iraqi Army, Al-Maliki said.
More than 100 airstrikes have been carried out near Fallujah since May 21, according to USA officials.
Some IS fighters left their vehicles and hid in a spot which was subsequently struck by Iraqi aircraft, resulting in a very high death toll, he said.
Advertisement
Fragments of the convoy were able to move on and some more vehicles were destroyed in subsequent strikes.
