US-led strike destroys former Turkish consulate in Mosul

Pentagon spokesman says US-led coalition strike in Iraqi city was carried out with full cooperation of Turkish government.

Middle East Online

WASHINGTON - The US-led coalition fighting Islamic State (IS) group jihadists in Iraq and Syria conducted an airstrike in the Iraqi city of Mosul that destroyed the former Turkish consulate, an official said Tuesday. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said Monday's strike was carried out with the full cooperation of the Turkish government. "ISIL repurposed the compound and used it as a headquarters for senior ISIL leaders, in addition to a bed-down location and weapons storage facility," he said, using an acronym for the IS group. "That compound has now been destroyed by coalition aircraft." IS group jihadists seized the key city of Mosul in June 2014 as they overran vast regions in northern and north-central Iraq, as well as in Syria. Mosul, in northern Iraq, lies some 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of the Kurdish capital Arbil. The city holds special significance for the IS group as the location where its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed his "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria. Iraqi forces are preparing for a battle to retake the city.