The White House wouldn’t confirm that U.S.-led coalition airstrikes have killed 10,000 Islamic State fighters Wednesday afternoon, despite Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken saying that was the case in Paris Wednesday morning.
The strikes, and causalities caused by Kurdish and Iraqi security forces on the ground, have taken thousands of fighters off the battlefield, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. In the battle for the Syrian town of Kobani alone, coalition forces killed 1,000 radical Islamic fighters, he said.
But he said only the Pentagon has the exact figures. Earnest said the White House has no reason to believe that Blinken’s figure is inaccurate, but said anyone looking for more precise information must ask the Pentagon.
