A
member of the Iraqi pro-government forces walks in front of flames
rising on October 27, 2014, in Jurf al-Sakhr, an area close to Amriyat
al-Fallujah, a town that has been hard-pressed by IS in recent weeks
(AFP Photo/Mohammed Sawaf)
Ottawa
(AFP) - Canada's first airstrikes against Islamic State jihadists in
Iraq destroyed heavy engineering equipment used to build up group's
defenses and divert water from the Euphrates River, an official said
Tuesday.
Lieutenant-General
Jonathan Vance told a press conference two CF-18 Hornet fighter jets
dropped several 500-pound laser-guided bombs on four targets near a dam
near Fallujah.
IS,
he said, had been using the equipment to "divert water from the
Euphrates river to create flooding and displace the population in Anbar
province, and denying water to other populations downstream."
By
flooding specific areas, IS forced civilians and Iraqi troops to use
"specific roads where they had placed improvised explosive devices or
IEDs," he explained.
Furthermore,
the militants used the vehicles to "develop and enhance their defensive
positions, which would have made future clearing operations for the
Iraqi security forces more difficult."
Canada
conducted its first airstrikes in the anti-IS fight following two days
of reconnaissance after joining the coalition last Thursday.
Vance said Canadian aircraft have flown a total of 27 sorties in Iraq so far.
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