Iraqi F-16s target 8 suspected ISIS hideouts
The strikes, the Cell added, “resulted in the destruction of several hideouts of ISIS terrorist gangs near the border separating the Salah al-Din Operations Commands and western Nineveh.”
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi Air Force F-16 fighter-bombers targeted eight suspected ISIS hideouts, Iraq’s Security Media Cell announced early Monday.
“With the planning and supervision of the Joint Operations Command, and according to accurate intelligence information of the National Security Service, the Iraqi Air Force carried out eight strikes using F-16 aircraft,” the Security Media Cell tweeted.
The strikes, the Cell added, “resulted in the destruction of several hideouts of ISIS terrorist gangs near the border separating the Salah al-Din Operations Commands and western Nineveh.”
Iraq’s air force regularly targets ISIS remnants in the north of the country. Aside from F-16s, the most sophisticated plane in the Iraqi Air Force, Iraq also uses its Russian-built Su-25 Frogfoot attack planes and Czech-built L-159 light attack aircraft in strikes against suspected ISIS targets.
In September, Iraqi Su-25s and F-16s targeted ISIS hideouts in Wadi al-Shai in southern Kirkuk.
In October, Iraqi F-16s targeted an ISIS hideout in al-Thulab Valley in Khanaqin, Diyala province. Later that same month, Iraqi Su-25s and F-16s carried out 25 airstrikes against suspected ISIS targets in Wadi al-Shai.
In late December, Iraqi F-16s and L-159s destroyed 14 caves and hideouts in Diyala province’s Hamrin mountain.
Most of these strikes received praise from the US-led coalition, which officially concluded its combat mission in Iraq in December. Coalition personnel remaining in the country are there solely to advise and assist Iraqi and Kurdish forces in their fight against ISIS.
