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U.S. Bombs ISIS Camps in Libya
JAN. 19, 2017
WASHINGTON - Two United States Air Force [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/us_air_force/index.html ] B-2 bombers attacked Islamic State training camps in Libya overnight, killing more than 80 militants, including some who were involved in plotting terrorist attacks in Europe, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
The attack, which also included strikes by armed reaper drones flying from a base in Sicily, was a parting shot from President Obama at the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and one of his final actions as commander in chief.
“We need to strike ISIL everywhere they show up,” Ashton B. Carter, the departing defense secretary, told reporters. “We know that some of the ISIL operatives in Libya were involved in plotting attacks in Europe.”
Islamic State fighters were driven out of Surt, the group’s coastal stronghold, last year by Libyan fighters backed by American air power. After conducting 495 strikes against truck bombs, heavy guns, tanks and command bunkers in the city, the Pentagon’s Africa Command announced an end to air operations on Dec. 19.
But the taking of Surt did not put an end to Islamic State operations in Libya. The militant group is believed to have several hundred fighters in the country. Many of them, including fighters who fled from Surt, began to regroup at two training camps about 25 miles southwest of the city, officials said.
When the initial flurry of airstrikes in Surt were completed last year, Mr. Obama asked to be notified if the Pentagon saw another opportunity to strike. On Monday, Mr. Obama approved airstrikes against the camps.
“We had 100 terrorists training,” said Peter Cook, the Pentagon press secretary. “That was a risk we could not accept.”
To buttress its assertions, the Pentagon released surveillance video of the militants at one of the camps unloading rocket-propelled grenades and shells from a truck.
The B-2 bombers dropped more than 100 satellite-guided bombs and were chosen in part for their ability to loiter over the target area, Pentagon officials say. After the B-2s dropped their bombs, the Reaper drones followed up with their strikes.
[...]
The two B-2 bombers flew a round-trip mission of about 34 hours from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, military officials said. It was the first time that a B-2 had been used in combat since March 2011, when three of the planes carried out airstrikes in Libya.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/us/politics/united-states-bombs-isis-camps-in-libya.html


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The U.S. flew stealth bombers across the globe to strike ISIS camps in Libya
January 19, 2017 Updated January 19, 2017
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/01/19/u-s-stealth-bombers-strike-islamic-state-fighters-in-libya/ [with embedded video, and comments]


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