The Iraqi Army has for the first time officially admitted its losses from airstrikes, carried out by small drones of the Islamic State terrorist group.
Iraqi military for the first time officially admitted their losses from airstrikes, carried out by small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), used by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group. Another wave of dropping of shells of grenade-launcher attachments and explosive devices took place in the eastern and southern Mosul on February 21.
As the Daily Sabah newspaper reported, citing Brigadier General Abdul-Mahdi al-Ameri, a drone, controlled by the IS, “fired a missile” in the district of Karaj Al-Shamal. According to the report, the missile struck a group of secondary school students, killing two of them. At the same day, three Iraqi servicemen were killed by a grenade, dropped from a quadrocopter in Furqan district, while two other soldiers lost their lives in the historical part of the city (the eastern part of Nineveh), and two others – in Al-Nour district.
In total, according only to official data, 9 people were killed in bombardments, carried out by the IS, in Mosul. Statistics of the IS on casualties among Iraqi military in airstrikes is much higher. According to the IS data, only for the last two days, at least 30 Iraqi servicemen were killed as the result of dropping of various bombs from UAVs.
American, British and French special forces soldiers, operating alongside with Iraqi troops in Mosul, also have a risk to be hit by an IS drone. Two days ago, during a press conference in Baghdad, a representative of the US Command Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend said that “US advisers began to operate closer to Iraqi units” that in fact means admission of actions of US troops on the front line.
Photos of IS unmanned aerial vehicles, captured during the battle for Mosul
Typical examples of usage of usual UAVs by the IS
