BEIRUT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Four U.S. troops were wounded during a helicopter raid that killed an Islamic State group leader in northeast Syria, U.S. officials said on Friday.
The U.S. military said the troops and a military working dog suffered the injuries when the target of the raid – identified as Hamza al-Homsi – triggered an explosion.
“The troops and a working dog are in stable condition, they’re being treated at a U.S. medical facility in Iraq,” said White House spokesperson John Kirby.
U.S. Central Command spokesman Col. Joe Buccino said Hamza al-Homsi oversaw the group’s network in eastern Syria.
Buccino said the raid was carried out with the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance led by Kurdish fighters that has waged a years-long campaign against Islamic State in the country’s north.
No SDF fighters or civilians were wounded in the raid, he said. A separate raid also killed an Islamic State assassination cell leader, Buccino added, without going into detail.
Islamic State named a new top leader in December after its former chief killed himself during a raid in southern Syria.
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily in Beirut and Phil Stewart in Washington Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Andrew Heavens)