US Air Raids Strike ISIL Gathering in Mosul, Suicide Bomber in Baiji “British”

Monday 10 November 2014

US Air Raids Strike ISIL Gathering in Mosul, Suicide Bomber in Baiji “British”

Local Editor

US-led Coalition air strikes have targeted a gathering of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant terrorist group leaders near Mosul in northern Iraq, the US announced.

strikes

Friday's strikes destroyed a convoy of vehicles, a US defense official said, but could not confirm whether ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was present.

The statement said that 10 armed ISIL trucks were destroyed in the air strikes, which "demonstrates the pressure we continue to place on the IS terrorist network".

The Pentagon announced on Saturday that 1,500 additional US troops will join the 1,600 military advisers that are already in Iraq to assist the country's army.

President Obama also plans to request $5.6 billion (£3.5bn) from Congress, including $1.6 billion to be used to train and arm Iraqi forces, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

The US is also accused of delivering arms and aid supply to ISIL militants in eastern Iraq. Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier described the US’s fight against ISIL as a “lie,” adding “the US and the coalition air dropped weapons, ammunition, food and medical equipment to ISIL militants – which have been besieged by the Iraqi army – in Jalawla town of Diyala [in eastern Iraq] a few days ago.”

Meanwhile, a wave of car bombs killed dozens of people across Iraq on Saturday.

At least 33 people died in a series of bombings in the capital, Baghdad, with the deadliest attack killing more than 10 in the Iraqi neighborhood of Sadr City.

A suicide bomber also targeted an Iraqi military convoy in the northern town of Baiji, north of Baghdad. Eight people were killed including top police officer Lt. Gen. Faisal Malik al-Zamel, the Associated Press reported.

The suicide bomber who blew himself in Baiji was reported to be a British citizen nicknamed as “Abu Soumaya Al-Britani” and “Kabir Ahmad”. If confirmed, he would be the first British suicide bomber among ISIL in Iraq, according to Sunday Times.

The British Foreign Office has said that it is aware of and looking into reports of the death of a British citizen in Baiji.