Coalition Bombs Islamic State's Money Warehouses in Iraq

The U.S.-led coalition has targeted the money warehouses of the group known as the Islamic State in its latest airstrikes in Iraq. It has been reported that the value of the money stored in the destroyed caches was 'tens of millions of dollars.' The recent attacks took place in Mosul and are the second of their kind in the city. Bombing of ISIS's money warehouses began last summer. Colonel Steve Warren, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army, suggested on January 19 that the airstrikes on the money warehouses may have resulted in civilian casualties. According to Reuters, Colonel Warren stated, 'We are preparing ourselves for the possibility that these strikes may have resulted in civilian casualties. This is tragic and not something we seek.' He added that initial estimates indicate that the number of civilian casualties is 'single digits.' The New York Times quoted this Army spokesperson as saying that in attacks on nine warehouses, tens of millions of dollars are expected to have been destroyed. However, it is not clear exactly how much money was destroyed and whether the currency was Iraqi dinars, U.S. dollars, or another currency. Last year, the Iraqi Ministry of Economy announced that extremists had seized nearly '500 million dollars' from banks in Mosul and other cities like Tikrit and Baiji. At that time, the group known as the Islamic State had made significant advances in Iraq and Syria. In recent weeks, estimates indicate that Islamist militants have retreated from nearly 30 percent of the occupied territories. The U.S.-led coalition has emphasized that one of the key objectives in the battles against ISIS is to destroy the material capabilities and resources of this group. Defense ministers from seven main coalition countries met in Paris on Wednesday, where they agreed to intensify their attacks. Ashton Carter, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, stated that the attacks would focus on the two main bases of the Islamic State, Raqqa (Syria) and Mosul (Iraq).