Coalition airstrikes targeted two ISIS convoys leaving Falluja over two days, destroying about 175 vehicles carrying militants out of the city, the spokesman for the U.S. coalition said Thursday.
Col.
Chris Garver said Iraqi security forces destroyed other vehicles.
The
Iraqi military provided different numbers, saying coalition and Iraqi forces
destroyed a total of 750 ISIS vehicles in the two convoys and killed hundreds
of ISIS militants.
One of
the convoys consisted of 700 vehicles, said the commander of the Iraqi Air
Force, Lt. Gen. Hamed al-Maliki.
Garver
didn't say how many militants were killed. A U.S. official said the destroyed
vehicles could have carried as many as 250 ISIS fighters.
Garver
said a large group of vehicles was detected gathering in neighborhoods
southwest of Falluja, west of the Tofaha Bridge, on Tuesday night. Iraqi
security forces on the ground positively identified the convoy as belonging to
ISIS, he said.
"Iraqi
air force and coalition airstrikes attacked the convoy throughout the night and
into Wednesday morning," Garver said. "We estimate coalition strikes
destroyed approximately 55 Daesh vehicles and we know the Iraqi security forces
destroyed more." Daesh is another term for ISIS.
On
Wednesday, a second group of ISIS vehicles and fighters formed east of Ramadi,
in the Albu Bali neighborhood, Garver said.
"When
strikes from both Iraqi and coalition air hit the convoy, the Daesh fighters
abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot," he said. "We estimate
coalition strikes destroyed approximately 120 Daesh vehicles. Again, we know
the Iraqi security forces destroyed more."
The
operation required American aircraft because there were a lot of civilians in
the area, a U.S. official said.
The
airstrikes come days after the Iraqi military announced that its troops had
seized Falluja from ISIS.
The
city was liberated Sunday after
the military recaptured the last neighborhood in Falluja, said Lt. Gen. Abdul
Wahab al-Saadi, commander of the liberation of the city.
Source: CNN
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