KIRKUK, WASHINGTON
U.S. airstrikes have killed two senior leaders of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, in the Iraqi governorate of Kirkuk, police said.
Situated between Baghdad and the Kurdish capital, Irbil, oil-rich Kirkuk has been the scene of heavy fighting between ISIL and the combined Iraqi army, Peshmerga and Shia militia forces aligned against it.
Hawijah police department issued a statement reporting that ‘governor’ Nime Nayef and military commander Abu Abed were killed Thursday in airstrikes on the village of Bashir, 15 km from central Kirkuk.
Kirkuk has been a target for ISIL since they took Mosul in June but they have been forced to retreat in recent weeks.
Denmark to send jets to fight ISIL in Iraq
Denmark announced Friday it would send seven F-16 fighter jets to Iraq, if approved by the Danish parliament, to support the U.S. coalition in its fight against ISIL, said Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt.
PM Thorning-Schmidt stated in a press conference Friday that ISIL was a brutal organization, which threatened Denmark’s allies and Denmark itself therefore the country had decided to join the coalition.
Denmark is also to provide military training to Iraqi and Kurdish forces.
Denmark’s F-16 fighter jets could be dispatched by the end of next week if the decision is supported by the majority in parliament, according to Thorning-Schmidt.
The U.S. carried out more than 200 airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq and has struck the group 40 times in Syria along with its allies. France and Britain joined the U.S.-led mission on Thursday.
More than half of the strikes hit targets in Iraq.
The U.S. conducted an additional 10 airstrikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, on Thursday and Friday with seven strikes in Iraq, U.S. Central Command announced.
In Iraq, five airstrikes destroyed three ISIL Humvees and one ISIL vehicle south and southwest of Kirkuk, while two armed ISIL vehicles were disabled and one ISIL mine-resistant vehicle was damaged. An ISIL guard shack, an armed vehicle and a bunker west of Baghdad were destroyed in a separate strike.
A separate airstrike near al-Qaim, which lies along the Syrian border, destroyed four armed ISIL vehicles, a checkpoint, and a command and control hub.
Three strikes in Syria destroyed four ISIL tanks and destroyed another south and southeast of Deir ez-Zor.
The strikes in Iraq and Syria were carried with a combination of fighter and attack aircraft, as well as unmanned drones.
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