ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—The United States used an Apache attack helicopter to carry out an airstrike in Iraq on Sunday. This is the first time the Apache has been used since President Barak Obama authorized their use in offensive operations in Iraq earlier this year.
The Apache carried out an airstrike in support of Iraqi troops preparing to retake Mosul from the Islamic State, Defense Secretary Ash Carter confirmed. He declined, however, to provide any further detail.
"US Apache helicopters conducted the first strike against a Daesh [ISIS} target in Iraq in support of Iraqi Security Forces in the Tigris River Valley June 12," Defense Department spokesman Christopher Sherwood confirmed on Monday.
Two Apaches were involved in the operation, according to a US official speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, though only a single Apache fired at a vehicle on the ground. Sherwood confirmed that a vehicle-borne IED was destroyed in the strike near Qayyarah, south of Mosul.
The decision to deploy the helicopters in support of local troops in the battle to retake Mosul was made in April, at the same time that the US committed $415 million to the Peshmerga. Before this, the Apaches were used in Iraq only to protect American personnel.
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