BEIRUT (AP)—U.S.-led coalition aircraft unleashed a series of
airstrikes targeting Islamic State's stronghold of Raqqa in eastern
Syria, killing at least 10 militants and wounding many others, the
coalition and the group said Sunday.
At least 16 airstrikes were reported late Saturday and early
Sunday, triggering successive explosions that shook the city and
created panic among residents, activists said. The U.S.-led
coalition often targets Islamic State-held towns and cities in
Syria, but the overnight strikes on Raqqa were rare in their
intensity.
In a statement issued early Sunday, the coalition said it had
conducted 16 airstrikes throughout Raqqa, destroying vital Islamic
State-controlled structures and transit routes in Syria.
"The significant airstrikes tonight were executed to deny Daesh
the ability to move military capabilities throughout Syria and into
Iraq," said coalition spokesman Lt. Col. Thomas Gilleran, using the
Arabic acronym for Islamic State group.
"This was one of the largest deliberate engagements we have
conducted to date in Syria, and it will have debilitating effects
on Daesh's ability to move" from Raqqa, he said.
Raqqa is the de facto capital of the so-called Islamic caliphate
declared a year ago by Islamic State in territories it controls in
Iraq and Syria.
An Islamic State-affiliated militant website confirmed the
strikes on the center of the city, saying 10 people were killed and
dozens wounded. It also published purported photos of dead victims,
including two of young boys suggesting they were civilians.
A Raqqa-based anti-Islamic State activist network reported eight
civilians were killed by the coalition airstrikes, including a
10-year-old child. The report couldn't be independently
confirmed.
The network, called Raqqa is Being Silently Slaughtered, said at
least one airstrike targeted a group of Islamic State members in
the city center. Another targeted an IS checkpoint while a third
destroyed large parts of an Islamic State-held brick factory in the
city.
The coalition regularly targets Islamic State, which controls
about a third of Iraq and Syria.
In Iraq, a Defense Ministry statement said government forces
repelled an Islamic State attack on a town and a vital dam in Anbar
province after Islamic State fighters launched an offensive on the
town of Haditha and the nearby Haditha dam Sunday morning.
At least 20 militants were killed in the failed attack, the
statement said, which didn't provide any further information.
Iraqi forces, backed by Shiite militias, have been struggling to
recapture areas lost to Islamic State in the country's west and
north.
In May, the militant group scored a stunning victory,
overrunning Ramadi, the provincial capital of western Anbar
province. Yet, Haditha and some other towns remain under control of
government forces and allied Sunni tribal fighters.
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