IndiaToday.in :
A US-led coalition was initiated to fight in Iraq and Syria two years ago. According to a US military official, since then, as many as 50,000 militants from so-called Islamic State have been killed.
Not talking in excess, the senior official described the figure as a “conservative estimate”.
The figure showed air power and a small number of the US figures supporting local forces were having an impact, the official said, according to a BBC report . Past being the evidence, the US has, however, repeatedly warned that the IS can replace fighters rapidly.
Iraqi troops have been battling to recapture the city of Mosul and a US official told BBC that coalition air strikes could be intensified but the strikes have to be made out of line where there are no civilian casualties. The campaign was beginning to damage the so-called Islamic State, the official said. “I am not into morbid counts but that kind of volume matters, that kind of impact on the enemy.”
The US has, on multiple occasions, been reluctant to provide figures on enemy casualties. But in August, Lt Gen Sean MacFarland was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that about 45,000 enemy combatants had been killed. In February, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said IS had about 25,000 fighters operating in Syria and Iraq, citing a US intelligence estimate. IS which started its expansion in 2014, had a lot of ground to hold, but is now taking heavy fire from forces of Russia, Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Kurdish forces, which is further supported by the US and British air power.
A US-led coalition was initiated to fight in Iraq and Syria two years ago. According to a US military official, since then, as many as 50,000 militants from so-called Islamic State have been killed.
Not talking in excess, the senior official described the figure as a “conservative estimate”.
The figure showed air power and a small number of the US figures supporting local forces were having an impact, the official said, according to a BBC report . Past being the evidence, the US has, however, repeatedly warned that the IS can replace fighters rapidly.
Iraqi troops have been battling to recapture the city of Mosul and a US official told BBC that coalition air strikes could be intensified but the strikes have to be made out of line where there are no civilian casualties. The campaign was beginning to damage the so-called Islamic State, the official said. “I am not into morbid counts but that kind of volume matters, that kind of impact on the enemy.”
The US has, on multiple occasions, been reluctant to provide figures on enemy casualties. But in August, Lt Gen Sean MacFarland was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that about 45,000 enemy combatants had been killed. In February, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said IS had about 25,000 fighters operating in Syria and Iraq, citing a US intelligence estimate. IS which started its expansion in 2014, had a lot of ground to hold, but is now taking heavy fire from forces of Russia, Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Kurdish forces, which is further supported by the US and British air power.
