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| © Damir Sagolj / Reuters |
The US Pentagon says it has
destroyed millions of dollars-worth of cash that terror group Islamic State
(previously ISIS/ISIL) was using to pay wages and finance its operations in an
airstrike on the jihadist Iraqi stronghold in Mosul.
RT USA report continues:
“The
bulk cash distribution site was used by [ISIS] to distribute money to fund
terrorist activities,” Lieutenant Commander Ben Tisdale, a US spokesman, said
in a statement.
The
US-led coalition used two 900kg bombs to destroy the facility, a Pentagon
official told AFP on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We
estimate in the millions of dollars ... from all their illicit stuff: oil,
looting, extortion,” Tisdale said.
He
added that bombing raid early Monday was one of a handful that has targeted
cash-storing sites since the coalition started attacks on ISIS positions, and
was probably the most bountiful to date.
According
to CNN, which was the first to report the strike, five to seven civilians were
estimated to have been killed in the attack. The TV network said the US
military were prepared to have up to 50 civilians killed in the operation, but
choosing dawn as the time for the attack helped to minimize casualties.
The
US, which has faced criticism over the slow progress in its anti-IS campaign
from its regional allies and Russia, which is conducting its own anti-terrorist
operation in Syria, has been gradually widening the array of targets for its
bombing raids.
The US-led coalition
started attacking oil trucks used to smuggle stolen crude oil and other
non-military targets with the goal of undermining IS resources. Washington
cited concern over potential civilian deaths as the reason why it didn’t try to
cripple ISIS’s economic resources earlier. US warplanes even dropped leaflets,
warning of an imminent strike, 40 minutes before bombing one of the terrorist
oil convoys.
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