The Pentagon on Tuesday announced separate airstrikes in Iraq and Syria had killed an Islamic State (Daesh) leader and an al-Qaeda agent.
Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said coalition forces conducted an airstrike on Sept. 10 near Tal Afar, Iraq that killed Abu Bakr al-Turkmani, a senior leader for the Islamic State. Cook described him as longtime jihadist who had been a member of al-Qaeda before joining the Islamic State and was a "close associate" to several ISIS leaders near Mosul and Tal Afar.
"His death will disrupt ISIL operations in Tal Afar impacting the violent extremist freedom of maneuver in ISIL-controlled areas," Cook said in a statement.
Cook also confirmed that French jihadist David Drugeon was killed in an earlier airstrike July 5 near Aleppo, Syria. Drugeon was a former Catholic who converted to Islam as a teen, changed his name to Daoud and had become a master bomb maker for the Khorasan Group, an al-Qaeda cell that was working with Syria's al-Qaeda wing, Nusra Front.
"As an explosives expert, he trained other extremists in Syria and sought to plan external attacks against Western targets," Cook said.
By Shawn Price
The Pentagon on Tuesday announced separate airstrikes in Iraq and Syria had killed an Islamic State leader and an al-Qaida agent.
Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said coalition forces conducted an airstrike on Sept. 10 near Tal Afar, Iraq that killed Abu Bakr al-Turkmani, a senior leader for the Islamic State -- also identified as Daesh, ISIS or ISIL. Cook described him as longtime jihadist who had been a member of al-Qaida before joining the Islamic State and was a "close associate" to several ISIS leaders near Mosul and Tal Afar.
"His death will disrupt ISIL operations in Tal Afar impacting the violent extremist freedom of maneuver in ISIL-controlled areas," Cook said in a statement.
Cook also confirmed that French jihadist David Drugeon was killed in an earlier airstrike July 5 near Aleppo, Syria. Drugeon was a former Catholic who converted to Islam as a teen, changed his name to Daoud and had become a master bomb maker for the Khorasan Group, an al-Qaida cell that was working with Syria's al-Qaida wing, Nusra Front.
"As an explosives expert, he trained other extremists in Syria and sought to plan external attacks against Western targets," Cook said.
