Arabic news site AMN reported that Daesh wrote about killing a US soldier on their website, claiming that the death took place in Gharatah Al-Sahhir village, roughly 60 miles from Aleppo. The violent fundamentalist group also claimed to have killed nine members of the Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK).
Air Force Col John L. Dorrian, spokesman for the US-led Operation Inherent Resolve coalition against Daesh, took to Twitter on Monday to call the militant group’s claims baseless. He tweeted that military officials in the operation were “aware of errant reports of a US KIA [Killed in action],” said the reports are “not true” and called the claims an example of “Daesh propaganda.”
The US military has denied similar claims from Daesh in the recent past. In July, extremists claimed to have shot down a US warplane reportedly operating near the Ain Al-Asad air base in Iraq’s Anbar province, killing everyone aboard. US Central Command tweeted that there was “no truth” to the reports and said there was no evidence of a missing plane.
Daesh’s latest claim comes after Iraqi Security Forces retook the district of Sharqat on Thursday, with US assistance. UPI reported that 160,000 Iraqis had been displaced from north central Iraq’s Saladin Governorate by the Islamic State.
Iraqi News quoted a statement by Brigadier General Yahya Rasoul, saying, "Within 72 hours, our armed forces have fought a swift and unique battle resulted in the full liberation of Sharqat and raising the Iraqi flag over its governmental offices."
But all is not success in the US' "fight" against Daesh. Complicating matters is the recent release of audio, said to be proof that the US met with Daesh representatives before the September 17 airstrike near Deir ez-Zor. The strike, which the US claimed was an accident, reportedly killed 62 soldiers, and wounded a hundred more. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem told the UN General Assembly this weekend that the strike was deliberate, contrary to US reports.
According to RT, Muallem said, "The Syrian government puts all the responsibility for the aggression on the US, as the facts show that it was a deliberate attack, but not a mistake – even if America says the opposite,” stating the bombing “proves that the US and its allies are accomplices of Islamic State and other terror groups."
