An Iraqi official say U.S. and planes are assisting Islamic State (IS) militants through air drops as fighting rages for the control of two strategic districts in the Province of Tikrit.
The militants were driven out of the district of Dhiloiya, their major stronghold in the province but were reported to be launching a counterattack and battling for the control of Balad, whose fall will mark a big blow to government troops who have been gaining territory from IS.
The allegations of U.S. planes dropping bundles of unspecified assistance directly on areas under IS control were made by Mufeed al-Baldawi, the government official in charge of Balad.
He said the air drops were made on Friday and specifically within an area besieged by government troops and popular vigilantes aiding them.
“At 12 p.m. last Friday an allied plane dropped a balloon … carrying large quantities of goods, weapons and ammunition,” said Baldawi. “Hundreds of Balad inhabitants saw the balloon falling in an area under IS control.”
The report could independently be confirmed but eyewitnesses reiterated Baldawi’s remarks in furious statements in which they urged the government to conduct an investigation.
The reports about air drops by U.S. and allied planes to IS, though unconfirmed, have caused widespread anger among the people of Balad, Dhiloiya and adjacent areas.
There is a lot of speculation in Iraq that the Islamic State, called locally Daeesh, is financed and armed by foreign powers and that the U.S. and allies do not want to see it destroyd.
This is not the first time Iraqi officials blame U.S. and allied planes for aiding the Islamic State.
When Iraqi troops and militias deployed with them succeeded in breaking the siege of Amerli, another district which Islamic State Jihadists had encirclesd rumors surfaced of allied planes dropping weapons and ammunition on areas under militant control.
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