WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2022) The US operation to eliminate the leader of the Islamic State terror group (banned in Russia), Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, in Syria resulted in at least three children and one adult civilian killed, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday during a press briefing.
Earlier in the day, President Joe Biden announced that the US eliminated al-Qurayshi in a military operation in northwestern Syria last night. Biden added that all Americans have returned safely from the operation.
"We know that when he (al-Qurayshi) blew himself up on the third floor, three others went with him," Kirby said, noting that these were al-Qurayshi's wife and their two children. "And we know of at least one child that was killed on the second floor."
The IS leader refused to surrender himself after the US forces got to the site and called out everyone in the house to give them an opportunity to leave peacefully, Kirby clarified.
Kirby noted that it required the US military to run two analyses - DNA and fingerprints - to identify the body of al-Qurayshi following a massive explosion.
While this was a US operation planned for months and that was conducted by US forces only, the American military command conducted "appropriate" deconfliction ahead of the operation as it always does in this part of Syria to ensure the operation could proceed safely, Kirby added.
Besides the four victims of the operation, the US forces managed to safely evacuate ten individuals, six from the first floor - an adult male and female and four children - and four more children from the second floor, Kirby said and added there is nobody in US custody as a result of the raid.
When the operation was coming to an end, the US military was confronted by a small group of individuals who were deemed as hostile and two of them were killed, Kirby said.
The Pentagon spokesperson confirmed that one of the military helicopters used during the operation suffered a mechanical failure. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, Commander of US Central Command, made a decision to abandon and destroy the helicopter by detonating it.
"We should all be happy he (al-Qurayshi) is no longer walking on the face of the earth," Kirby concluded.
