US-led air strikes kill IS leaders linked to Paris attacks
Updated: 2015-12-30 09:51
(Agencies)
|
|||||||||
Members of the Iraqi security forces hold an Iraqi flag with an Islamic State flag which they had pulled down at a government complex in the city of Ramadi, Dec 28, 2015. [Photo/Agencies] |
WASHINGTON - A US-led coalition has killed 10 Islamic State leaders in the past month with targeted air strikes, including individuals linked to last month's attacks in Paris, a spokesman for the coalition said on Tuesday.
"Over the past month, we've killed 10 ISIL leadership figures with targeted air strikes, including several external attack planners, some of whom are linked to the Paris attacks," said US Army Colonel Steve Warren, a spokesman for the US-led military campaign against Islamic State, also known by the acronym ISIL. "Others had designs on further attacking the West."
One of those killed was Abdul Qader Hakim, who facilitated the militants' external operations and had links to the Paris attack network, Warren said. He was killed in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Dec 26.
A coalition air strike on Dec 24 in Syria killed Charaffe al Mouadan, a Syria-based Islamic State member with a direct link to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected ringleader of the coordinated bombings and shootings in Paris on Nov 13 which killed 130 people, Warren said. Mouadan was actively planning further attacks against the West, he said.
The effect of the air strikes on Islamic State leadership can be seen in recent battlefield successes against the group, Warren said. The Iraqi army recently saw its first major victory against the ultra-hardline Sunni militants, declaring the capture this week of Ramadi, a provincial capital west of Baghdad which fell to Islamic State in May.
"Part of those successes is attributable to the fact that the organization is losing its leadership," Warren said.
He warned, however: "It's still got fangs."
- Iraq's PM hails key victory in Ramadi, vows to free Mosul from IS
- Unity against IS
- IS has departments of 'War Spoils', papers say
- Iraqi forces continue offensive against IS in Ramadi
- Turkey says to keep up military support for Iraq until Mosul is freed from IS
- Iraqi forces launch offensive to free IS-held Ramadi
- US-led air strikes kill IS leaders linked to Paris attacks
- DPRK senior party official Kim Yang Gon killed in car accident
- Former Israeli PM Olmert's jail term cut, cleared of main charge
- Japan, S. Korea reach deal on 'comfort women'
- More than 70 killed in Nigeria bombings, suicide attacks
- Argentina issues orange alert for heat wave
- Yearender: Chinese athletes of year
- Yearender: Key words from popular China news stories in 2015
- Hangzhou shuts steel plant to improve air quality
- China's longest tunnel under lake open to traffic
- Top 10 policy changes in China in 2015
- Yearender 2015: Natural disasters
- The world in photos: Dec 21 - 27
- Yearender: Film critics' top 10 Chinese films of 2015
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
8 highlights about V-day Parade |
Glimpses of Tibet: Plateaus, people and faith |
Chinese entrepreneurs remain optimistic despite economic downfall |
50th anniversary of Tibet autonomous region |
Tianjin explosions: Deaths, destruction and bravery |
Cinemas enjoy strong first half |
Today's Top News
Shooting rampage at US social services agency leaves 14 dead
Chinese bargain hunters are changing the retail game
Chinese president arrives in Turkey for G20 summit
Islamic State claims responsibility for Paris attacks
Obama, Netanyahu at White House seek to mend US-Israel ties
China, not Canada, is top US trade partner
Tu first Chinese to win Nobel Prize in Medicine
Huntsman says Sino-US relationship needs common goals
US Weekly
Geared to go |
The place to be |