Drone strike: An Islamic State group leader was killed in Syria in a US drone strike which came hours after the same MQ-9 Reaper drones were harassed by Russian military jets over the western part of the country, according to the Defence Department.
Three Reapers were hovering overhead and searching for the militant on Friday, a US defence official said.
The drones struck and killed Usamah al-Muhajir, who was riding a motorcycle in the Aleppo region, the official said who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe details of the military operation.
The official said that al-Muhajir was in northwest Syria at the time of the attack, however, he usually operated in the east.
“It was not immediately clear how the US military confirmed that the person killed was al-Muhajir; no other details were provided,” he said.
In a statement on Sunday, US Central Command said there are no signs of any civilian casualties in the strike.
The military was assessing reports a civilian may have been injured.
Friday was the third day in a row that US officials complained that Russian fighter jets in the region had conducted unsafe and harassing flights around American drones.
What did US Air Forces Central Command Head say?
Head of US Air Forces Central Command, Lt Gen Alex Grynkewich, said in a statement that during the Friday encounter, the Russian planes “flew 18 unprofessional close passes that caused the MQ-9s to react to avoid unsafe situations”.
The first confrontation occurred on Wednesday morning when Russian military aircraft “engaged in unsafe and unprofessional behaviour” as three American MQ-9 drones were conducting a mission against IS, the US military said.
The US military on Thursday said that Russian fighter aircraft flew “incredibly unsafe and unprofessionally” against both French and US aircraft over Syria.
Col Michael Andrews, Air Forces Central Command spokesman, said the Thursday incident lasted almost an hour and included close fly-bys, by one SU-34 and one SU-35 and that they deployed flares directly into the MQ-9.
US officials said the drones were unarmed in the earlier flights, but were carrying weapons on Friday, as they were hunting al-Muhajir.
“We have made it clear that we remain committed to the defeat of ISIS throughout the region,” said Gen Erik Kurilla, commander of US Central Command, in the statement.
(With PTI inputs)
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