The sprawling Al-Asad air base came under attack Friday by IS militants but Iraqi soldiers repelled the assault, which involved suicide bombers, Iraqi and US officials said...
"We do assess that right now they have control of Al-Baghdadi," Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told a news conference, adding they took hold of the town "in the past several days."
The town is located in Anbar province and is only kilometers from Al-Asad air base, where about 300 US Marines are stationed to assist Iraqi government troops.
A group of 20-25 IS fighters, wearing Iraqi army uniforms, carried out the attack on the base, according to Kirby. All of the militants were killed or died when detonating suicide bombs.
He said that "at no time were US troops anywhere near the fighting."
Kirby said the fall of Al-Baghdadi, one of the few towns that had remained under the Baghdad government's control, did not represent a major setback in the overall war effort.
"This is arguably the first in at least a couple of months, if not more, where they (IS) have had any success at all at taking any new ground," Kirby said.
"So this is an enemy that we still assess to be in a defensive posture."
- He added: "It's one town. It's not all of Anbar. It's not all of Iraq.
AFP
[ahram.org.eg]
13/2/15
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IS fighters move close to Iraqi base before killed: Pentagon...
ReplyDeleteA group of Islamic State (IS) fighters on Friday got to the perimeter of an air base in Iraq where U.S. and coalition forces were training Iraqi forces before being killed by Iraqi armies, the Pentagon said.
About 25 IS fighters, some wearing Iraqi uniforms, launched an attack on al-Asad air base in Iraq's Anbar Province, Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said at a regular briefing. No coalition casualties had been reported so far, said Kirby, cautioning that reports were still preliminary.
Kirby said that initial reports indicated that about 15 IS fighters tried to breach the perimeter of the air base after several suicide bombers detonated their vests.
Iraqi security forces patrolling the base killed all the fighters and U.S. Marines training Iraqi troops at the sprawling base were about 3.5 km away and were not involved in the fighting, he said.
The spokesman, however, declined to offer details on the degree to which the perimeter was breached.
Kirby also said IS fighters had taken control of al-Baghdadi, a town near the al-Asad air base.......................http://english.cntv.cn/2015/02/14/ARTI1423880316222489.shtml