Coalition strikes ISIS bomb factory
USA TODAY reporter views destruction of terrorist car bomb factory from above
U.S.-led coalition forces launched a massive airstrike against an Islamic State car-bomb factory in the Iraqi city of Mosul on Thursday night, dropping dozens of bombs in the culmination of months of intelligence gathering. A USA TODAY reporter accompanies the mission aboard a surveillance plane. His account appears on
ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT The U.S.-led coalition launched one of the largest airstrikes yet on an Islamic State car bomb factory Thursday night, hitting a sprawling compound south of Mosul with aircraft dropping dozens of bombs.
The airstrike was the culmination of months of intelligence gathering and is part of a broad effort to weaken militants in Mosul in advance of a U.S.-backed offensive to recover Iraq’s second-largest city from the Islamic State.
The U.S. Air Force allowed a reporter to fly in a surveillance aircraft over Syrian airspace as the planes attacked the targets in neighboring Iraq.
The Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) plane monitors radio traffic and provides radar coverage in crowded airspace above Iraq and Syria, coordinating among coalition planes and issuing warnings if Russian or Syrian aircraft appear heading near allied operations.
The aircrew was hunched over banks of radar screens for hours at a time as the aircraft circled above Syria, helping to refuel tankers and fighter planes, ensuring the combat aircraft remain at safe distances from each other.
Car bomb factories represent an increasing worry for the coalition because the Islamic State has managed to sneak the bombs into Baghdad and use them to disrupt Iraqi ground offensives. A recent bombing in Baghdad killed more than 200 civilians.
U.S.-backed Iraqi forces are massing troops south and north of Mosul, though the final assault