ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Coalition airstrikes have killed the Islamic State commander in Fallujah and more than 70 ISIS fighters, a US military spokesman said on Friday.
“We’ve killed more than 70 enemy fighters, including Maher al-Bilawi, who is the commander of ISIL forces in Fallujah,” said Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for the US campaign against ISIS.
Warren said that the US-led coalition had carried out 20 strikes against Fallujah over the past four days.
“This, of course, won’t completely cause the enemy to stop fighting, but it’s a blow. And it creates confusion and it causes the second-in-command to have to move up. It causes other leadership to have to move around,” he stated.
Iraqi media reported that Ali Dawood, head of Khalediya District Council in Anbar province, announced last Saturday that Maher al-Bilawi, also known as Wilayat Fallujah, had been killed during a coalition airstrike on an ISIS headquarters in al-Khalediya Island, 23 kilometres east of Ramadi.
The Iraqi army and Shia militias began on Monday operations to liberate the city of Fallujah from ISIS. A leader of one of the participating Shia militias said on Friday that they expected the final fight for the city to come in “days, not weeks.”
Fallujah has been under ISIS control since January 2014.
“We’ve killed more than 70 enemy fighters, including Maher al-Bilawi, who is the commander of ISIL forces in Fallujah,” said Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for the US campaign against ISIS.
Warren said that the US-led coalition had carried out 20 strikes against Fallujah over the past four days.
“This, of course, won’t completely cause the enemy to stop fighting, but it’s a blow. And it creates confusion and it causes the second-in-command to have to move up. It causes other leadership to have to move around,” he stated.
Iraqi media reported that Ali Dawood, head of Khalediya District Council in Anbar province, announced last Saturday that Maher al-Bilawi, also known as Wilayat Fallujah, had been killed during a coalition airstrike on an ISIS headquarters in al-Khalediya Island, 23 kilometres east of Ramadi.
The Iraqi army and Shia militias began on Monday operations to liberate the city of Fallujah from ISIS. A leader of one of the participating Shia militias said on Friday that they expected the final fight for the city to come in “days, not weeks.”
Fallujah has been under ISIS control since January 2014.
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