U.S. airstrikes destroy second site of IS cash reserves

U.S. warplanes have reportedly destroyed a large Islamic State (IS) bank in Iraq’s Mosul city housing an estimated $45 million, the second time in over a week that such a facility of the terror group has been bombed.

American warplanes destroyed the IS bank in Mosul late on Tuesday night, a senior U.S. defense official told Fox News.

Second such instance

This was the second such instance in over a week that the U.S. military has targeted an IS finance centre holding significant cash reserves.

The U.S. dropped two 2,000-pound (900-kilogramme) bombs on January 10 in central Mosul destroying the building containing huge amounts of cash. The airstrike had destroyed the ISIS building reportedly housing an estimated $90 million.

The building targeted in Tuesday’s strike housed an estimated $45 million in dollars and Iraqi dinars, according to officials.

Crushing the IS

Reports indicated the collective strikes on the two sites are “crushing” IS, another senior defence official was quoted as saying.

It has been reported that IS salaries to its fighters and civil servants have been significantly reduced as a result of the strikes.

The group’s Bayt al-Mal, the Treasury Ministry, has decided to cut the salaries of its fighters in half due to the “exceptional circumstances” IS has been witnessing, The Jerusalem Post said, citing new documents released last month.

The terror group reportedly did not explain exactly what those “exceptional circumstances” were.

U.S. targeting IS-infested Mosul

Around 2,000 IS fighters occupy the 1.5-million Sunni-majority city of Mosul, according to estimates from the Iraqi military. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi has said recently that he wants Mosul retaken by the end of 2016 and the IS destroyed.

In the past weeks, the U.S.-led air campaign has increased its airstrikes in and around Mosul, the largest IS stronghold in Iraq.