WASHINGTON – The Pentagon says a small number of Islamic State fighters who attacked an Iraqi air base that hosts about 400 U.S. forces were killed in a counterattack by Iraqi troops.
Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, says initial reports Friday were that all eight IS attackers were killed by Iraqi troops at or inside a gate to al-Asad air base in the western province of Anbar. Warren said details were incomplete.
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Warren said that no U.S. troops were involved in the fighting and says the Americans were about two miles away, in a different section of the sprawling air base.
Warren said that U.S. unmanned surveillance aircraft and Army Apache attack helicopters were sent to the scene but did not engage in fighting.
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