US-led coalition destroys Islamic State hub in Iraq

Jets bomb football stadium in Anbar province that served as key jihadist command and supply center

By AFP 9 September 2015, 9:20 pm

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Illustrative: US Navy F-18E Super Hornets flying over northern Iraq as part of the US-led coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State and other targets, September 23, 2014. (AP/US Air Force, Staff Sgt. Shawn Nickel)

The US-led international coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group bombed a key jihadist command and supply hub in the area of Ramadi, capital of Iraq’s Anbar province, it said Wednesday.

A video of the strike on the football stadium showed a massive secondary explosion at the site.

“The stadium was a key (IS) command and supply hub in the Ramadi region and was being used to store large amounts of homemade explosives, weapons and ammunition,” the coalition said in a statement.

“Destroying this hub will significantly disrupt (IS’s) ability to conduct operations and resupply their fighters in Ramadi.”

IS overran Ramadi in mid-May in a major setback for Iraqi forces, which had held out against militants in parts of the city for well over a year.

The group seized swathes of Iraqi territory in a June 2014 offensive, and the coalition is carrying out daily air strikes against the jihadists to assist Iraqi forces, which have made little progress on the ground in recent weeks.