2 US service members injured in Iraqi raid targeting ISIS leaders
The two were in stable condition, a Pentagon official said.
Two U.S. service members were injured overnight in a raid in Iraq that targeted top ISIS leaders and killed "multiple" ISIS operatives, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
"What I can tell you is that overnight, CENTCOM and Iraqi security forces conducted a partnered raid in Iraq targeting several senior ISIS leaders," Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters at a briefing.
The two U.S. service members were in stable condition, Ryder said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani announced earlier Tuesday that an Iraqi raid in the northern Hamrin Mountains had successfully killed the new head of ISIS in Iraq along with eight other ISIS leaders. The Pentagon did not provide many details about the raids Tuesday.
Iraq's armed forces identified the Islamic State leader killed in the operation as Jasim al-Masroui Abu Abdel Qadir. The Iraqi army did not name the other victims of the raid, but said they would be identified after DNA tests.
The ISIS leader had only recently assumed the top role after another U.S.-Iraqi raid two months ago killed the then-leader of ISIS in Iraq.
"The raid resulted in the death of multiple ISIS operatives," said Ryder. "Post-mission analysis is ongoing, so we'll provide more details once we have confirmed information, and we'll have more to follow on it."
"We do have reports of two U.S. service members that were injured," Ryder added. "I don't have more to provide at this time."
"My understanding is that both of them are in stable condition, being treated for their injuries, but certainly we'll have more to provide on that as it becomes available," he added.
There are still 2,500 U.S. troops in Iraq with the mission to prevent a resurgence of ISIS after it was defeated territorially in 2019. There are about 900 U.S. troops in eastern Syria on the same mission.
U.S. Central Command estimates there are still 2,500 ISIS fighters at large across Iraq and Syria.
ISIS carried out 153 attacks in Iraq and Syria in the first six months of this year, according to CENTCOM figures released in July, a pace that would almost double the total number of attacks ISIS claimed in 2023.
