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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," Defense 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.
Defense
Secretary Ash Carter testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday,
March 22, 2016, before the House Armed Services Committee hearing on the
Defense Department's fiscal 2017 budget request. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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.
airstrike 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 so spoke on
condition of anonymity.
The successful attacks are part of a
string of strikes targeting the group's leadership even as it losses
territory in both Iraq and Syria. Dunford said there has been
"indisputable" momentum against the Islamic State in recent weeks, as
coalition airstrikes and Iraqi ground forces target the group's leaders,
command and control structure and financing.
Joint
Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, with Defense Secretary Ash Carter,
speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon, Friday, March 25,
2016, where they announced U.S. forces killed a senior Islamic State
leader, among several key members of the militant group eliminated this
week. (AP Photo/Mauel Balce Ceneta)
"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.
Carter said the senior IS leader killed was a
"well-known terrorist" who had a hand in terrorist plots outside of Iraq
and Syria. He said he was not aware of any link between him and this
week's terrorist attacks in Brussels.
Carter said he has been
associated with the Islamic State dating back to its earliest iteration
as al-Qaida in Iraq. He said he had worked under Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as
a liaison for operations in Pakistan.
Defense
Secretary Ash Carter, accompanied by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph
Dunford, speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon, Friday, March
25, 2016, where he announced U.S. forces killed a senior Islamic State
leader, among several key members of the militant group eliminated this
week. (AP Photo/Mauel Balce Ceneta)
"The removal of this
ISIL leader will hamper the organization's ability to conduct operations
both inside and outside Iraq and Syria," Carter said at a Pentagon news
conference.
He added: "Indeed, the U.S. military killed several
key ISIL terrorists this week, including we believe Haji Iman, who was
an ISIL senior leader serving as a finance minister and who also was
responsible for some external affairs and plots."
Asked about the
impact of these killings, Carter said, "Leaders can be replaced.
However, these leaders have been around for a long time. They are
senior, they are experienced."
Defense
Secretary Ash Carter, accompanied by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph
Dunford, speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon, Friday, March
25, 2016, where they announced U.S. forces killed a senior Islamic State
leader, among several key members of the militant group eliminated this
week. (AP Photo/Mauel Balce Ceneta)
The U.S. military has
killed numerous Islamic State leaders in recent months. Earlier this
month the Pentagon said it killed Omar al-Shishani, described as the
Islamic State's "minister of war," in an airstrike in Syria. In
November, the Pentagon said an airstrike in Libya killed Abu Nabil,
another top IS leader.
___
Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed to this report.
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