Islamic State: US Army announces killing of high-ranking IS leaders in Iraq

The US Army says it killed four leaders of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) in western Iraq at the end of August. The operation, which was carried out jointly with Iraqi security forces, also killed the militia’s military operations manager in Iraq, the US Central Command Centcom, which is responsible for the Middle East, said on Friday in the online service X.

The operation targeted IS leaders and weakened IS’s ability to “organize and carry out operations against civilians,” the statement continued. A total of 14 IS members were killed in the operation on August 29. Several US soldiers were injured.

Centcom remains committed to the ongoing siege of IS, “which continues to threaten the United States, our allies and partners, and regional stability,” said US General Michael Erik Kurilla.

The operation took place against the backdrop of ongoing talks between Baghdad and Washington on the future of the anti-jihadist coalition in Iraq. Iraq has declared the full deployment of international troops as a goal – but no timetable has been announced so far. As part of the international coalition against IS, the US has stationed around 2,500 soldiers in Iraq and 900 in Syria.