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WASHINGTON, July 1 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon confirmed Friday that it has conducted an airstrike recently near Mosul, Iraq that killed two Islamic State military commanders.
In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook identified the two commanders as Basim Muhammad Ahmad Sultan al-Bajari, IS deputy minister of war, and Hatim Talib al-Hamduni, an IS 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," Cook said, using another acronym for IS.
"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," he continued.
The progress included the liberation of the city of Fallujah, devastating strikes against IS forces fleeing the city, and the completion of the encirclement of Manbij, as well as efforts to clear key terrain south of Mosul of ISIL forces, Cook said.
Bajari, a former member with al-Qaida who brought his military skills into IS, oversaw the June 2014 offensive to capture Mosul, and has led the Jaysh al-Dabiq battalion which is known for using vehicle-borne bombs, suicide bombers and mustard gas in its attacks, Cook said.
Hamduni was an IS military commander in Mosul and the head of military police for the self-proclaimed Ninawa state.
"Removing these terrorist leaders from the battlefield shapes the environment for Iraqi forces to ultimately liberate Mosul with support from the international coalition," Cook said, adding that the "momentum is now on our side, and not on ISIL's."
