Braxton Taylor
Two U.S. troops were injured in a joint raid with Iraqi security forces that Baghdad said killed the Islamic State terrorist group’s leader and eight other senior leaders, according to the Pentagon.
“We do have reports of two U.S. service members that were injured,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Tuesday, adding that “my understanding is that both of them are in stable condition, being treated for their injuries.”
However, Ryder said that he was not able to offer any more information on the two service members, including where they were being treated.
Read Next: Navy Submarine Honored with Top Unit Award for 3 Secret Intelligence Missions
It does not appear that the Pentagon would have disclosed the injuries had reporters not asked Ryder the question.
The Associated Press first reported the raid earlier on Tuesday, citing Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, who said that Jassim al-Mazroui Abu Abdul Qader was killed in the Hamrin Mountains in Salahuddin province.
Ryder did confirm that U.S. Central Command and Iraqi security forces conducted “a partner raid in Iraq targeting several senior ISIS leaders” but offered few other details.
In a statement posted to social media, the Iraqi prime minister boasted that forces not only killed “ISIS’s so-called ‘Wali of Iraq'” but also “eight senior leaders in a heroic operation.”
Ryder said that “the raid resulted in the death of multiple ISIS operatives,” but he didn’t mention Abdul Qader and noted that “post-mission analysis is ongoing, so we’ll provide more details once we have confirmed information.”
Meanwhile, the AP reported that al-Sudani said that the identities of the other fighters killed in the raid alongside Abdul Qader will be announced after DNA tests confirm their identities.
“We commend the effort of the heroes of all our security forces and reaffirm that there is no place for terrorists in Iraq,” the Iraqi leader said online. “We will pursue them to their hideouts and eliminate them until Iraq is cleansed of them and their heinous acts.”
The news of the joint mission comes just weeks after the U.S. announced that it had reached a new agreement with the Iraqi government to bring the American anti-ISIS military mission in the country to an end by next year. It’s expected that part of that deal will mean U.S. troops will be leaving some bases that they have long occupied during a two-decade-long military presence in the country.
The Iraqi government has publicly announced that it expects all of the roughly 2,500 U.S. troops to leave the country by 2026, while several recent U.S. strikes have strained relations with the country.
In January, a missile strike against the leader of an Iranian-backed militia in Baghdad angered government officials, who called it “a blatant attack and blatant violation of the sovereignty and security of Iraq” in a social media post.
Related: US Airstrike in Baghdad Kills Militia Leader Amid Growing American Involvement in Regional Violence
Story Continues
Read the full article here