A drone strike killed tThe Islamic State group militant believed to be responsible for the attack on a firebase in Iraq that last month’s attack which killed a U.S. Marine and injured eight others was killed in a drone strike, the U.S. military said Sunday.

Early Sunday morning, a U.S. drone took out Jasim Khadijah, an ISIS rocket expert and former Iraqi officer, was killed in a U.S. airstrike Sunday morning, who directed attacks on the Marines’ position, U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters for the U.S.-led effort to defeat ISIS, said at a press briefing in Baghdad, Iraq, just hours after the attack yesterday. Khadijah was believed to be behind a March rocket attack in northern Iraq that killed Marine Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin. 

"Several hours ago, we killed an [ISIS] member believed responsible for the rocket attack that resulted in the death of [Marine Staff Sgt. Louis] Cardin," Warren said. "We have information [that] he was a rocket expert, he controlled these attacks," Warren told reporters, according to Reuters

Five other ISIS militants were also killed airstrike, he said. The airstrike also took out an enemy along with an improvised ISIS drone and two vehicles were also destroyed, Warren added.

Marine Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin, a 27-year-old field artilleryman with Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines, was killed March 19 when ISIS militants launched rockets on his position near in the Makhmur area of northern Iraq. Eight other Marines were wounded in the attack.

"Several hours ago, we killed an [ISIS] member believed responsible for the rocket attack that resulted in the death of [Staff Sgt.] Cardin," Warren said. "We have information he was a rocket expert, he controlled these attacks."

Five other militants were also killed in the airstrike along with an improvised ISIS drone and two vehicles, he added.

The Marines are assigned to the part of a 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is currently deployed to the region with the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group. The detachment is operating out of the Kara Soar Counter Fire Complex, which the Marines initially coined Firebase Bell, to provide indirect fire support to the Iraqi army’s new offensive to retake the city of Mosul from ISIS. 

The Marines' forward artillery position - with four 155mm M777A2 howitzers - was previously referred to as Fire Base Bell, but the name changed after Cardin's death to emphasize its support role.

"While the base has been referred to as Fire Base Bell, this was never its official name, which has created confusion," Combined Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve public affairs officials explained to Marine Corps Times.

While the base is owned and run by Iraqis, the Marines are operating in a  are located on a separate and secure area of the Iraqi-owned Makhmur base complex, similar to their mission in bases Al Taqaddum and Al Asad, according to military officials they said. The Marines are equipped with four 155mm M777A2 howitzer cannons.

The day after the rocket attack which killed Cardin, CJTF-OIR officials announced it was sending additional Marines from the 26th MEU - currently deployed aboard the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group in the Arabian Sea - to join the fight against ISIS.

deployment

Matthew L. Schehl covers training and education, recruiting, West Coast Marines, MARSOC, and operations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East for Marine Corps Times. He can be reached at mschehl@marinecorpstimes.com.

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