Daesh rocket expert killed in Iraq strike — spokesman

By AFP - Apr 03,2016 - Last updated at Apr 03,2016

In this March 31, 2016 photo, Balkis, 15, embraces her father, Sheikh Matar, after being separated from him for over a year. Balkis and the rest of the family remained in Daesh-controlled territory after her father was forced to flee to the Kurdish north (AP photo)

BAGHDAD — A Daesh rocket expert believed to have been involved in an attack that killed a US Marine has died in a drone strike in Iraq, a spokesman said Sunday.

Staff Sergeant Louis Cardin was killed last month by a Daesh rocket attack that also wounded eight Marines at an artillery position in the Makhmur area of northern Iraq.

"Several hours ago, we killed an ISIL [Daesh] member believed responsible for the rocket attack that resulted in the death of Sergeant Cardin," Colonel Steve Warren, the spokesman for the US-led operation against the extremists, told journalists in Baghdad.

Jasim Khadijah "was an ISIL member and former Iraqi officer," he said.

He was "a rocket expert, apparently... he controlled those attacks," Warren said, adding that the strike also killed five other Daesh militants and destroyed a drone and two vehicles.

Daesh overran large parts of Iraq in 2014, but the country's forces have since regained significant ground with the backing of US-led air strikes and training.

US President Barack Obama repeatedly pledged that there would be no “boots on the ground” to fight Daesh, but has deployed special forces to Iraq who are carrying out raids targeting the extremists.

An American special operations soldier was killed last October during a joint raid with Kurdish forces against Daesh in Hawijah, a northern Iraqi town.

Rate