US-led airstrikes pound IS in Iraq
US-led coalition aircraft waged a series of deadly strikes against Islamic State around the city of Falluja on Wednesday, US officials told Reuters, with one citing a preliminary estimate of at least 250 suspected fighters killed and at least 40 vehicles destroyed.
If the figures are confirmed, the strikes would be among the most deadly ever against the jihadist group. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the operation and noted preliminary estimates can change.
The strikes, which the officials said took place south of the city, where civilians have also been displaced, are just the latest battlefield setback suffered by Islamic State in its self-proclaimed "caliphate" of Iraq and Syria.
The group's territorial losses are not diminishing concerns about its intent and ability to strike abroad though. Turkey pointed the finger at Islamic State on Wednesday for a triple suicide bombing and gun attack that killed 41 people at Istanbul's main airport.
On Tuesday, a senior US official told skeptical lawmakers that the US-led fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria could be completed within 14 months.
Some 65 countries are engaged at varying levels in trying to defeat the IS group in its so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria, under a campaign that began in August 2014 and was initially devised to take three years.
US lawmakers, especially Republicans, have frequently blasted President Barack Obama for what they call an overly cautious approach that only takes incremental steps in ramping up the fight.
"We're not going to defeat them within 14 months, are we?" Senator Ron Johnson asked Brett McGurk, who is Obama's special envoy for the coalition.
McGurk, speaking at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, pointed to progress in the 22-month-old operation and said he wanted it finished even before it hits the three-year mark.
"I want it to go a lot faster than that," he told senators.
"We are moving at a tempo that I believe will lead to the ultimate defeat" of IS, he added.
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