Forces recapture towns from IS

Associated Press

SINJAR, Iraq

Dealing a double blow Friday to the Islamic State group, Iraqi Kurdish forces pushed into the strategic town of Sinjar in northern Iraq, and a coalition of Arab, Christian and Kurdish rebel factions recaptured another town from the militants across the border in Syria.

The Kurdish forces raised their flag in the center of Sinjar, and a top official said it was liberated, although U.S. and Kurdish military officials urged caution in declaring victory in the major offensive.

The fighters encountered little resistance, at least initially, suggesting that many of the IS militants may have pulled back in anticipation of the advance. It was also possible that they could be biding their time before striking back.

The offensive to retake Sinjar was launched Thursday by the Kurdish militia fighters known as the peshmerga forces, and they succeeded in cutting a key nearby highway and retaking more than 60 square miles of territory from the Islamic State group.

Airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition supported the offensive, dubbed Operation Free Sinjar.

The Kurdistan Region Security Council said 28 villages were retaken from the Islamic State and “more than 300 terrorists were killed by Peshmerga forces and Coalition warplanes” in the course of the two-day operation.

By cutting the road, Iraqi and coalition officials said the extremists will struggle to maintain a flow of supplies to Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, which has been under militant control since June 2014. Without direct access on Highway 47, the militants would have to travel off-road for several hours to travel between their strongholds in Syria and Iraq.

US ‘reasonably certain’ Jihadi John is dead

The U.S. military is “reasonably certain” its drone strike in Syria killed the masked Islamic State militant known as “Jihadi John,” who appeared in several videos depicting the beheadings of Western hostages.

But families of the hostages brutally killed last year said his presumed death is little solace.

Army Col. Steve Warren, U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, told reporters Friday that officials had been following Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born British citizen, for some time.

“The intelligence indicators that we had gave us great confidence that this individual was Jihadi John, and when the opportunity presented itself – with the opportunity for minimal civilian casualties – we took the shot,” Warren said. “This guy was a human animal, and killing him is probably making the world a little bit better place.”

Another U.S. official told The Associated Press that three drones – two U.S. and one British – targeted the vehicle in which Emwazi was believed to be traveling in Raqqa, the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed capital in northern Syria. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity, said the U.S. drone, armed with a Hellfire missile, struck the vehicle.

Warren said that Emwazi and one of his friends were apparently killed, and there were no civilian casualties.

Officials are using a variety of human and signals intelligence, social media reports and other methods to confirm Emwazi’s death.

A Turkish official said authorities there have detained a man they suspect is linked to Emwazi. The man, who they strongly believe to be Aine Lesley Davis, was detained in Istanbul.