Iraqi security forces inspect vehicles belonging to escaping Islamic State militants outside Fallujah, Iraq.(Photo: Associated Press)
Airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State<span style="color: Red;">*</span>rocked the extremist<span style="color: Red;">*</span>group<span style="color: Red;">*</span>near the Iraqi city of Fallujah on Wednesday, killing at least 250 suspected<span style="color: Red;">*</span>militants<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and destroying at least 40 vehicles, according to media reports.
The reported strikes occurred south of the city, and are just the latest setback for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, which<span style="color: Red;">*</span>continues to suffer devastating defeats<span style="color: Red;">*</span>just two years after<span style="color: Red;">*</span>capturing large swaths of Iraq.
An unnamed U.S. defense official told<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
FOX News<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a convoy of ISIL<span style="color: Red;">*</span>fighters was hit as they<span style="color: Red;">*</span>tried<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to leave a neighborhood on the outskirts of Fallujah.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
Reuters<span style="color: Red;">*</span>first reported the air assault.
The airstrikes come<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a day after
three suicide bombers blasted Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport, killing at least 42 people and leaving more than 230 wounded. Initial indications suggest<span style="color: Red;">*</span>ISIL<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was behind the deadly terrorist attack.
USA TODAY
CIA director: Attack at Istanbul airport has hallmarks of Islamic State, could happen in U.S.
"I am worried from the standpoint of an intelligence professional who looks at the capabilities of Daesh …<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and their determination to kill as many as people as possible and to carry out attacks abroad," said CIA Director John Brennan, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
in an interview<span style="color: Red;">*</span>with Yahoo! News on<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Wednesday. "I’d be surprised if Daesh is not trying to carry out that kind of attack in the United States."
The Islamic State has lost about 45% of the territory it controlled at its peak last year in Iraq and about 20% of what it once occupied in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Syria, the Pentagon has said.
“ISIL fighters are panicking on the battlefield, foreign recruits are now looking to return home, and leaders are struggling to maintain discipline, even despite the threat of execution for disobedience,” Brett McGurk, a special envoy to the coalition against the Islamic State, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this week.
USA TODAY
Istanbul airport attack: What we know
Contributing: Jim Michaels and Melanie Eversley
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