After a series of massive air strikes on ISIS militants south of Fallujah, Iraq, on Wednesday, one U.S. official revealed that at least 250 militants were killed and more than 175 vehicles were destroyed by the U.S. coalition, according to Fox News.
Additional militants were killed and vehicles were destroyed by the Iraqi security on the ground.
According to Col. Chris Garver, a spokesman for the U.S. coalition, a large gathering of vehicles was detected southwest of Fallujah late Tuesday night. Iraqi forces on the ground confirmed that it was an ISIS convoy.
Up until earlier this week, Fallujah was one of the two major ISIS strongholds left in Iraq. The city is about an hour-long drive from Iraq’s capital of Baghdad.
After a nearly month long offensive led by the U.S. coalition, almost all ISIS fighters were pushed out of the city and into small, isolated suburbs. It is believed that the ISIS convoy was a desperate attempt for militants to exit the city.
Iraqi air forces and coalition airstrikes repeatedly rained down on the convoy through the night, and continued into early Wednesday. U.S. officials estimated that about 55 ISIS vehicles were destroyed by U.S. airstrikes. Iraqi security destroyed more, but that number is not known.
Later Wednesday, another convoy formed near the city, this time to the east. The U.S.-led coalition again struck the convoy, bringing up the number of ISIS vehicles destroyed by coalition to 175.
About 250 militants are reported to have been killed based on the number of vehicles that were destroyed. If these figures are confirmed, it will make this the deadliest airstrike against any jihadist group in history.
It is not clear why such a large groups of militants were crowded together in an area that they were easily spotted. Some speculate that this convoy was just a desperate militant escape measure to avoid the advance of Iraqi ground forces.
This is a major victory for the war on terror, and ISIS is sure to feel the full weight of this strike. This airstrike comes only a day after the terrorist bombings in Turkey, which claimed the lives of over 40 people. There is still a long way to go in the war against ISIS, but hopefully this is just another step toward their ultimate defeat.