Kurdistan security council says coalition airstrike near Sinjar kills 12 IS militants including senior leaders

A US-led coalition airstrike near Sinjar on April 13 killed 12 Islamic State militants including two senior leadership figures, Iraqi Kurdistan security officials said on Friday.

In a Facebook post, the Kurdistan Region Security Council Counter-Terrorism directorate said coalition warplanes targeted an IS base in Markab al-Ter village near the town of al-Baaj, around 33km (20 miles) south of Sinjar city.

KRSC-CT said the strike killed 12 IS members, including two senior leaders – Ali Khalaf, a Syrian from Abu Kamal, and Ismael Younis al-Afari, an Iraqi from Tal Afar.

A spokesperson for the coalition told Grasswire that it had no information to share on the alleged strike.

In its public daily strike release, Operation Inherent Resolve said it carried out five strikes on April 13, all near Mosul.

In Iraq, Coalition military forces conducted five strikes consisting of 54 engagements coordinated with and in support of the government of Iraq against ISIS targets.

• Near Mosul, five strikes engaged five ISIS tactical units; destroyed four fighting positions, a VBIED, a command-and-control node, a tunnel; and damaged five fighting positions, and four ISIS supply routes.

CJTF-OIR airstrikes in Iraq, April 13

IS occupied al-Baaj in June 2014.

The Guardian reported that the organisation’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was seriously wounded in an airstrike near al-Baaj on March 18, 2015. Warplanes reportedly hit a three-car convoy between Umm al-Rous and al-Qaraan.