Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said commanders in Iraq have begun to use the Boeing-built Apache helicopters from the U.S. in support of the campaign against the Islamic State militant organization, DoD News reported Tuesday.
Lisa Ferdinando writes Carter told reporters during his trip to Brussels Monday that President Barack Obama authorized the use of the aircraft “some months ago†and that Apache helicopters were used to destroy an Islamic State-related target in an air strike Sunday.
A spokesman for the Defense Department said Apache helicopters were deployed Sunday to support the Iraqi security forces that operate in the Tigris River Valley, Ferdinando reports.
“The Apache strike destroyed [an ISIL] vehicle-borne improvised explosive device near Qayyarah, Iraq,” the DoD spokesman said, according to the report.
