U.S. claims kill of Islamic State minister, preps for ground fight
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said Friday it was moving to increase the number of American forces in Iraq and announced that U.S. forces have killed the Islamic State’s finance minister. “We are systematically eliminating ISIL’s cabinet,” Defence Secretary Ash Carter said.
Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said recommendations on ways to increase U.S. support for Iraq’s ground fight against IS are going to be discussed with President Barack Obama soon.
“The secretary and I both believe that there will be an increase in U.S. forces in Iraq in coming weeks, but that decision hasn’t been made,” Dunford told Pentagon reporters during a briefing. He did not say how big that increase might be.
Dunford’s comments came as Carter announced that several key members of the Islamic State group were eliminated this week. According to a senior U.S. official, the group’s financial minister was killed along with two associates in a U.S. raid in Syria. He is known by several names: Abdul-Rahman Mustafa Mohammed, Haji Iman, Haji Imam and Abu Iman, Haji Ayman and Abu Alaa al-Afari.
In a separate operation, a U.S. air strike in Mosul killed another top Islamic State leader, the official said. Carter would not provide details of the strikes, and the U.S. official was not authorized to discuss the operations and so spoke on condition of anonymity.
The successful attacks are part of a string of strikes targeting the group’s leadership even as it loses territory in both Iraq and Syria. Dunford said there has been “indisputable” momentum against the Islamic State in recent weeks, as coalition air strikes and Iraqi ground forces target the group’s leaders, command and control structure and financing.
“By no means would I say that we are about to break the back of ISIL or that the fight is over,” Dunford said, but added that there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic.