© AP This frame grab from video provided on Nov. 7, 2016, by the Hawar News Agency, shows U.S.-backed fighters taking position during fighting with the Islamic State in the village of Laqtah, north of Raqqa, Syria.

A coalition airstrike this month killed three top Islamic State leaders, including two terrorists involved in supporting the last year's Paris attacks that killed 130 people, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.

The men were killed in a "precision airstrike" conducted Dec. 4 in Raqqa, the Islamic State's de facto capital in Syria, a Pentagon statement said.

The two involved in facilitating the Nov. 13, 2015, attacks were Salah Gourman and Sammy Djedou, the Pentagon said. The pair were close associates of Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, an Islamic State leader in charge of planning terror attacks around the world.

The third Ieader killed in the strike, Walid Hamman, was a suicide attack planner convicted in absentia in Belgium for a terrorist plot disrupted in 2015, the Pentagon statement said.

The coalition said the deaths of these terrorist leaders and others has been helped by intelligence gathered up as the Islamic State, also called ISIL or ISIS, has been pushed out of territory in Syria and Iraq.

The Pentagon, for example, gathered a trove of intelligence when the militants were forced from the Syrian town of Manbij last summer.

The town was a regional center for foreign fighters coming into Iraq and Syria and going abroad to commit acts of terrorism, the Pentagon said at the time.

Since then, U.S.-backed rebel forces have captured more territory in Syria and are headed toward Raqqa.</s>US defence secretary Ash Carter has claimed the US has killed three key leaders of the Islamic State group in Syria.

Among the dead were two militants believed to be tied to the attacks in Paris in November 2015 that killed 130 people.

Mr Carter announced the killings during an address to US airmen at a military base in Italy.

Mr Carter’s spokesman, Peter Cook, said that the three were killed in an air strike on December 4th in Raqqa.

Mr Cook said the two involved in the Paris attacks, Salah Gourmat and Sammy Djedou, were close associates of Islamic State external operations leader Abu Mohammed al-Adnani - who was killed in August.

He said the third person, Walid Hamman, had been convicted in absentia in Belgium for a disrupted planned attack in 2015.</s>AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy (AP) — U.S. airstrikes killed three key leaders of the Islamic State group in Syria, including two involved in last year’s attacks in Paris, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Tuesday.

He announced the killings during an address to U.S. airmen at a military base in Italy.

“I can confirm today we took out three of ISIL’s key leaders in the last couple of weeks by one strike. These were guys linked to plots right here in Europe ... for example with the Paris attacks,” Carter said, referring to the November 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.

Carter’s spokesman, Peter Cook, said later that the three were killed in an airstrike Dec. 4 in Raqqa.

Cook said the two involved in the Paris attacks, Salah Gourmat and Sammy Djedou, were close associates of Islamic State external operations leader Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, who was killed in August.

He said the third person, Walid Hamman, had been convicted in absentia in Belgium for a disrupted 2015 planned attack.

Coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria have been taking out an increasing number of Islamic State leaders in recent months, aided by improved intelligence gathering from forces on the ground and from troves of information collected as IS has been driven out of neighborhoods.

Asked at a news conference later about the Islamic State’s ability to quickly replace leaders and operatives who are killed in U.S. airstrikes, Carter said his announcement Tuesday was a reminder that U.S. counter-IS operations are aimed at protecting the American homeland.

“We remained focused on, and are consistently operating against, those who intend to conduct attacks upon the United States,” he said. “That’s an important priority. That is the priority the president gives us.”

Carter also said that with the elimination of the final pocket of IS resistance in the Libyan city of Sirte, the U.S. has “concluded” its support to the Government of National Accord in its lengthy effort to regain control of that coastal city.

“That doesn’t eliminate ISIL from Libya,” he said, using an alternative acronym for the militant organization. “Sirte was their most important single nest and stronghold in Libya, but as it appears other places, we are prepared to take action.”</s>WASHINGTON — Two members of the Islamic State group involved in planning the deadly November 2015 terrorist attack in Paris were among three militants killed last week in an airstrike in Syria, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

The men – identified as Salah Gourmat, Sammy Djedou and Walid Hamman – were riding in a vehicle in Raqqa when they were killed, said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman. All three were planning more attacks on Western targets, Davis said.

Information collected recently from territory retaken from the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria helped the U.S.-led coalition with targeting the Dec. 4 drone strike inside Raqqa, the terrorist group’s de facto capital in Syria, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said.

“As the coalition and our local partners continue to take territory from [the Islamic State group] on the ground in both Iraq and Syria, this strike highlights our relentless efforts to simultaneously target [the group’s] members who seek to attack the United States, our interests, and our allies around the world,” Cook said.

A senior U.S. military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said last week that the Operation Inherent Resolve coalition has killed some 50,000 Islamic State fighters in the last two years, as it has ousted the terrorist group from vast stretches of land across Iraq and Syria.

Iraqi security forces backed by the coalition are now battling the Islamic State group inside Mosul, its final urban stronghold in Iraq. Davis said Tuesday that city was between 15 and 20 percent cleared of the militants, but it could take several months of intense fighting before they are fully ousted.

Meanwhile, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have moved within about 15 miles of Raqqa from the north, and they have launched a second attack from the northwest that is moving slowly toward the city, Davis said. Those operations are designed to prepare Raqqa for an eventual assault to remove the Islamic State group.

Cook said Tuesday that Gourmat and Djedou were involved in the planning for the Nov. 13 attack on Paris that left 130 people dead and 350 wounded. They were close associates of Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, one the Islamic State group’s top leaders in propaganda and terrorist operations planning, who was killed in a coalition airstrike in August.

Gourmat was a French national who had been working on terrorist attacks in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Davis said. He was involved in financing the Paris attack and had worked to inspire lone wolf attacks.

Djeou, a Belgian national, was involved in recruiting foreign fighters and preparing them to attack in the West, including the Paris attack, Davis said.

Hamman, a French national, was involved in planning suicide attacks in western Europe, Davis said. He was convicted in absentia in Belgium for his role in a 2015 terror plot that was disrupted by that country’s government. He was a long-known terrorist in France who joined the Islamic State group in 2013 and participated in the group’s capture of Mosul in June 2014.

The trio had been working in a network under another Islamic State terrorist plotter, Boubaker Al-Hakim, who was killed in a November airstrike, Cook said.

The Islamic State has additional militants focused on attacking the West, Davis said. Killing those individuals preparing to strike the United States and its allies is the coalition’s No. 1 goal, he said.

“First and foremost in our minds is always protecting the American people,” Davis said. “When and where we see those who are involved in external plotting, [attacking them] is always going to rise to the top in terms of our priority level.”</s>Two of the targets, Salah Gourmat and Sammy Djedou, were directly involved in plotting the November 13, 2015 Paris attacks, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement. The third, Walid Hamman, was a suicide attack planner who was convicted in absentia in Belgium for a terror plot disrupted in 2015.

The leaders were working to plot and carry out attacks on on the West, the Pentagon said, and were a part of a terror network run by Boubaker Al-Hakim, who was killed in an earlier coalition airstrike on November 16.

Coalition airstrikes have successfully targeted five top ISIL external plotters within the last month. The Pentagon attributes this success to intelligence material and coordination with local partners.

The news comes after the US announced it would send up to 200 additional troops to Syria to help train and assist US-backed local forces that are driving towards Raqqa. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said he expects the fight against ISIS to continue "for some time" even after Raqqa and Mosul are captured.</s>AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy — U.S. airstrikes killed three key leaders of the Islamic State group in Syria, including two involved in last year's attacks in Paris, U.S. Secretary Ash Carter said Tuesday.

He announced the killings during an address to U.S. airmen at a military base in Italy.

"I can confirm today we took out three of ISIL's key leaders in the last couple of weeks by one strike. These were guys linked to plots right here in Europe ... for example with the Paris attacks," Carter said, referring to the November 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.

Carter's spokesman, Peter Cook, said later that the three were killed in an airstrike Dec. 4 in Raqqa.

Cook said the two involved in the Paris attacks, Salah Gourmat and Sammy Djedou, were close associates of Islamic State external operations leader Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, who was killed in August.

He said the third person, Walid Hamman, had been convicted in absentia in Belgium for a disrupted 2015 planned attack.

Coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria have been taking out an increasing number of Islamic State leaders in recent months, aided by improved intelligence gathering from forces on the ground and from troves of information collected as IS has been driven out of .
A U.S. airstrike in Al-Raqqah, Syria, kills four ISIL leaders, two of which were confirmed to have roles in the November 2015 Paris Attacks.