- US says it is unclear if Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was present
- Iraq hit by suicide bombings on Friday and Saturday
Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi preaching during Friday prayer at a mosque in Mosul, as seen in a video released in July. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Fighter jets from the US led coalition have destroyed a moving
Islamic State (Isis) convoy near Mosul in northern Iraq. Iraqi officials
said a number of top militants had been killed.
A US defence official was however unable to confirm reports that the group’s top commander, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was among the 50 casualties in the ten vehicles targeted or even whether he was present.
Baghdadi made a rare public appearance at a mosque in Mosul in July.
Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman at US Central Command, said “I can confirm that coalition aircraft did conduct a series of air strikes yesterday evening [Friday] in Iraq against what was assessed to be a gathering of Isil [Isis] leaders near Mosul. We cannot confirm if Isil leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was among those present.”
Ryder added that convoy consisted of 10 Isis armed trucks which were were destroyed in the air strikes, which “demonstrates the pressure we continue to place on the IS terrorist network”.
A Mosul morgue official said 50 bodies of Isis militants were brought in after the air strike.
Earlier, the al-Hadath TV station, which is part of Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television, reported that US-led strikes had targeted a gathering of Isis leaders in Iraq, possibly including al-Baghdadi.
Two witnesses told Reuters an air strike had targeted a house where senior Isis officers were meeting, near the western Iraqi border town of al-Qaim, and said Isis fighters had cleared a hospital so that their wounded could be treated, using loudspeakers to urge residents to donate blood.
Residents said there were unconfirmed reports that Isis’s local leader in the western Iraqi province of Anbar and his deputy were killed.
Earlier, a US official said fighters had targeted the convoy near the northern city of Mosul, about 170 miles from al-Qaim, and against small Isis units elsewhere, but added that US-led strikes had not targeted an Isis gathering.
Isis did not immediately issue any statement on the strikes.
In Iraq on Friday, a suicide truck bomber targeting a senior police officer’s convoy killed eight people, including the ranking official, authorities said.
The attack happened late on Friday, when the attacker drove his bomb-laden truck into the convoy of police lieutenant general Faisal Malik, who was inspecting troops in the town of Beiji, police said. The blast killed Faisal and seven police officers, while wounding 15 people, hospital officials and police officers said. No one immediately claimed the attack.
Beiji is home to Iraq’s largest oil refinery, and lies 155 miles north of Baghdad.
On Saturday, a series of bombings in and around the capital killed at least 19 people. The deadliest attack took place on a commercial street in Baghdad’s south-western Amil neighborhood, where two car bombs killed eight people and wounded 16, police officials said.
In the south-eastern neighborhood of al-Amin, at least nine people were killed and another 18 wounded when a car bomb tore through a commercial street lined with restaurants. In Yousifiya, a town just south of the capital, two people were killed and four wounded in a bombing near a fruit and vegetable market.
Hospital officials confirmed the casualties. All police and hospital officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to journalists.
The US, Iraq and other western and Arab countries have formed a coalition against the militant group.
The Pentagon announced on Friday that 1,500 additional US troops will boost the 1,600 military advisers that are already in Iraq to assist the country’s army.
President Obama also plans to request $5.6bn (£3.5bn) from Congress, including $1.6bn to be used to train and arm Iraqi forces.
A US-led coalition has been launching air strikes on Isis militants and facilities in Iraq and Syria for months, as part of an effort to give Iraqi forces the time and space to mount a more effective offensive.
A US defence official was however unable to confirm reports that the group’s top commander, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was among the 50 casualties in the ten vehicles targeted or even whether he was present.
Baghdadi made a rare public appearance at a mosque in Mosul in July.
Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman at US Central Command, said “I can confirm that coalition aircraft did conduct a series of air strikes yesterday evening [Friday] in Iraq against what was assessed to be a gathering of Isil [Isis] leaders near Mosul. We cannot confirm if Isil leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was among those present.”
Ryder added that convoy consisted of 10 Isis armed trucks which were were destroyed in the air strikes, which “demonstrates the pressure we continue to place on the IS terrorist network”.
A Mosul morgue official said 50 bodies of Isis militants were brought in after the air strike.
Earlier, the al-Hadath TV station, which is part of Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television, reported that US-led strikes had targeted a gathering of Isis leaders in Iraq, possibly including al-Baghdadi.
Two witnesses told Reuters an air strike had targeted a house where senior Isis officers were meeting, near the western Iraqi border town of al-Qaim, and said Isis fighters had cleared a hospital so that their wounded could be treated, using loudspeakers to urge residents to donate blood.
Residents said there were unconfirmed reports that Isis’s local leader in the western Iraqi province of Anbar and his deputy were killed.
Earlier, a US official said fighters had targeted the convoy near the northern city of Mosul, about 170 miles from al-Qaim, and against small Isis units elsewhere, but added that US-led strikes had not targeted an Isis gathering.
Isis did not immediately issue any statement on the strikes.
In Iraq on Friday, a suicide truck bomber targeting a senior police officer’s convoy killed eight people, including the ranking official, authorities said.
The attack happened late on Friday, when the attacker drove his bomb-laden truck into the convoy of police lieutenant general Faisal Malik, who was inspecting troops in the town of Beiji, police said. The blast killed Faisal and seven police officers, while wounding 15 people, hospital officials and police officers said. No one immediately claimed the attack.
Beiji is home to Iraq’s largest oil refinery, and lies 155 miles north of Baghdad.
On Saturday, a series of bombings in and around the capital killed at least 19 people. The deadliest attack took place on a commercial street in Baghdad’s south-western Amil neighborhood, where two car bombs killed eight people and wounded 16, police officials said.
In the south-eastern neighborhood of al-Amin, at least nine people were killed and another 18 wounded when a car bomb tore through a commercial street lined with restaurants. In Yousifiya, a town just south of the capital, two people were killed and four wounded in a bombing near a fruit and vegetable market.
Hospital officials confirmed the casualties. All police and hospital officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to journalists.
The US, Iraq and other western and Arab countries have formed a coalition against the militant group.
The Pentagon announced on Friday that 1,500 additional US troops will boost the 1,600 military advisers that are already in Iraq to assist the country’s army.
President Obama also plans to request $5.6bn (£3.5bn) from Congress, including $1.6bn to be used to train and arm Iraqi forces.
A US-led coalition has been launching air strikes on Isis militants and facilities in Iraq and Syria for months, as part of an effort to give Iraqi forces the time and space to mount a more effective offensive.