A Multi-National Force-Iraq spokesman told reporters over the weekend that a coalition air strike on Sept. 3 had killed “the terrorist responsible for the planning and conducting of the horrific attack against the Yazidis [sect] in northern Iraq on Aug. 14. That attack killed more than 400 people, according to Agence France Presse news service; other news reports cited the death toll at 250, with scores more injured. Rear Adm. Mike Fox said the al Qaeda militant killed in the air strike about 70 miles southwest of Mosul was Abu Mohammed al-Afri and added that Abu Jassam, as he was also known, “is no longer a threat to the Iraqi people.”
F-35As from the Vermont Air National Guard have deployed to Puerto Rico in recent days, continuing a major buildup of U.S. Air Force assets in Latin America aimed at combating drug trafficking and pressuring the regime of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
