WASHINGTON –
Coalition forces conducted an airstrike that killed two
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant senior military commanders June 25 near
Mosul, Iraq, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said today.
In a statement, Cook said the precision strike killed Basim
Muhammad Ahmad Sultan al-Bajari, ISIL's deputy minister of war, and Hatim Talib
al-Hamduni, an ISIL military commander in Mosul.
“These deaths are the latest in coalition efforts to
systemically eliminate ISIL's cabinet wherever they hide, disrupting their
ability to plot external terror attacks and hold onto the territory they use to
claim legitimacy,” the press secretary said. “The international coalition
fighting ISIL, working with local, capable and motivated forces on the ground
in Iraq and Syria continues to make sustained progress in our campaign to deal
ISIL a lasting defeat.
Seizing Every Opportunity
“In just recent days,” he continued, “the coalition has
freed Fallujah from ISIL's grip; launched devastating strikes against ISIL
forces fleeing that city; completed the encirclement of Manbij, a key node in
the flow of foreign fighters between Syria and Turkey; and started to clear key
terrain south of Mosul of ISIL forces. In addition to making operationally
significant strides in the campaign to defeat ISIL, we continue to look for --
and seize -- every opportunity to hasten it.”
Bajari was an experienced terrorist, a former member of
al-Qaida who brought his military skills into ISIL's terrorist network, Cook
said. He oversaw ISIL's June 2014 offensive to capture Mosul, and also has led
the ISIL Jaysh al-Dabiq battalion, which is known for using vehicle-borne
bombs, suicide bombers and mustard gas in its attacks.
“He used his military experience to consolidate ISIL's
control over Mosul, where they have engaged in dictatorial rule and sectarian
murder and oppression since 2014,” he added. Hamduni was an ISIL military
commander in Mosul and the head of military police for the self-proclaimed
Ninawa state, Cook said.
“Their deaths, along with strikes against other ISIL leaders
in the past month, have critically degraded ISIL's leadership experience in
Mosul and removed two of their most senior military members in northern Iraq,”
the press secretary said. “Removing these terrorist leaders from the
battlefield shapes the environment for Iraqi forces to ultimately liberate
Mosul with support from the international coalition. Because of our strategy
and our determination to accelerate our campaign, momentum is now on our side,
and not on ISIL's.”