WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st December, 2018) US-led coalition aircraft carried out strikes in support of Iraqi security troops fighting the Islamic State terror group (outlawed in Russia) in areas of Iraq west of Mosul, the Central Command said in a press release on Friday.
"Coalition forces conducted an airstrike in support of Iraqi Security Forces [ISF] taking small arms fire west of Mosul [on] December 15, 2018," the release said.
The 20th Iraqi Army Division troops received small arms fire during a routine patrol in the Atshanah Mountains, the release said. The Iraqi Security Forces pursued the attackers, identified as Islamic State fighters, to a tunnel entrance in the mountains, the release added.
"The coordinated a Coalition-led airstrike which destroyed the tunnel entrance, resulting in the death of four ISIS [Islamic State] fighters," CENTCOM said.
The US-led coalition of more than 70 countries is conducting military operations against the Islamic State in Iraq with the cooperation of the Baghdad government and Islamic forces remain active in the Mosul region.
