The U.S. killed an Islamic State terrorist with direct links to last month’s rocket attack that killed a Marine, the Pentagon confirmed Monday.
Islamic State militant Jasim Khadijah was killed over the weekend, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said.
“He was an ISIL member and former Iraq officer that we believe was directly connected to the rocket attack,” Cook said during a briefing at the Pentagon. “We believe that because of his particular knowledge and his involvement with that part of ISIL’s operations.”
Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin was killed in a rocket attack last month on Firebase Bell in northern Iraq. Several other Marines were wounded in the attack, some badly enough to be evacuated to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.
Days after the rocket attack, the same U.S. outpost came under small arms fire.
Cook said removing key Islamic State militants such as Khadijah from the battlefield is partly responsible for battlefield successes by local troops.
“I don’t know how much you want to attribute to the fact that ISIL leadership has been undermined by our airstrikes, but we certainly feel like that is making a difference. It is harder for ISIL to organize, it is harder to communicate and it is very dangerous to be an ISIL leader right now,” he said.
