Two Islamic State leaders with links to the deadly terror attacks in Paris last month were among 10 militants killed in a recent U.S.-led airstrike in Syria, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
“Over the past month we’ve killed 10 ISIL leadership figures with targeted airstrikes, including several external attack planners, some of whom are linked to the Paris attacks,” said U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the U.S.-led military campaign against Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, Reuters reported. “Others had designs on further attacking the West.”
One of the militants killed in the strike was Abdul Qader Hakim, who Col. Warren said facilitated Islamic State’s external operations and had links to the Paris attack network. He was killed in Mosul on Dec. 26, Col. Warren said.
Another Islamic State leader, Charaffe al Mouadan was killed in a Dec. 24 strike in Syria. Mouadan had a direct link with Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected ringleader of the coordinated bombings and shootings in Paris on Nov. 13 which killed 130 people, Col. Warren said.
Mouadan was actively planning further attacks against the West, he said, Reuters reported.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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