WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – US-led coalition forces fighting the Daesh (banned in Russia) carried out eight strikes near Tal Afar just hours before the Iraqi city was declared liberated, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve said in a press release on Thursday.
"Near Tal Afar, eight strikes engaged six Daesh tactical units; destroyed 36 fighting positions, three heavy machine guns, two medium machine guns, two weapons caches, a command-and-control node and a Daesh-held building; and suppressed a Daesh tactical unit," the release said.
The operations in Tal Afar were among 31 strikes the coalition carried out in Iraq and Syria against Daesh terrorists on Wednesday, according to the release.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi announced on Thursday that Tal Afar and the entire Nineveh province where it is located had been liberated from Daesh terrorists.
US-led coalition forces also carried out 21 strikes on Daesh targets in Syria, the release said.
Those attacks included three strikes near Abu Kamal that destroyed eight Daesh oil stills and damaged five supply routes, the release said.
Near Raqqa, the coalition carried out 17 strikes, engaged 11 Daesh tactical units and destroyed 15 fighting positions, two command-and-control nodes, a logistics node and an improvised explosive devise factory, it said.
The US-led coalition of more than 70 members is conducting airstrikes, ground-based and rocket-propelled artillery fire against the Daesh in Syria and Iraq. The strikes in Iraq are conducted in support of the Iraqi government, but those in Syria are not authorized by the government of President Bashar Assad or the UN Security Council.
