ISIL Prison Break;Kurdish General Killed;Operation Inherent Resolve Airstrikes

ISIL is claiming responsibility for a prison break in Khalis,Diyala Province,Iraq on Friday 8 May.Fifteen IEDs were detonated against army and police convoys and vehicles around the prison to begin a coordinated attack,ISIL said;while the Iraqi Interior Ministry says the melee began as a fight between prisoners that turned into a riot.
In any event,inside the prison,prisoners managed to break into the prison armoury and seize its weapons.In the ensuing firefight with security forces,some 50 inmates and 12 police were killed;while more than 50 prisoners escaped,nine of them convicted terrorists.
Iraqi security forces cordoned off the area and searched homes for the escapees.It was a small prison break in contrast with those at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison in July of 2013,when more than 500 prisoners were freed,including leading Islamist extremists;or the June 2014 breaks in Tikrit and Mosul,when hundreds of Sunni Muslims were freed and recruited into ISIL.It seems that fomenting prison breaks is a key element of ISIL's strategy as a means of garnering headlines,freeing terrorists and gleaning recruits.*
Major General Salah Delmani of the 118th Brigade Kurdish Peshmerga and two of is bodyguards were killed by a bomb blast near his car Tuesday near the city of Kirkuk in Northern Iraq.No one has claimed responsibility,but ISIL controls part of Kirkuk Province outside the city,which is under Kurdish control.ISIL desires to capture the city because of the oil fields nearby and has attacked it many times.MGEN Delmani was commander of Daquq village,which is south of Kirkuk on the strategic road to Baghdad which was recently recaptured from ISIL by the Kurds.*
Between 8 am Sunday 10 May and 8am Monday,the US-led coalition carried out a number of airstrikes on ISIL targets in Iraq and Syria in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.
In Syria,attack,fighter and remotely piloted aircraft carried out 9 sorties.
Near Hahaskah,6 sorties destroyed 3 ISIL fighting positions,3 vehicles,2 mortar positions,4 heavy machine guns and a supply point.Near Raqqah,1 sortie destroyed 2 vehicles.Near Kobani.2 sorties destroyed a mortar position and a vehicle.
Those participating in airstrikes on ISIL in Syria include the US,Bahrain,Canada,Jordan,Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
In Iraq,near Beiji,2 sorties destroyed a vehicle.Near Fallujah,2 sorties destroyed 4 fighting positions and a vehicle.Near Haditha,1 sortie destroyed 2 fighting positions.Near Mosul,2 sorties struck a fighting position and land features giving ISIL a tactical advantage,the Pentagon said.
Those participating in airstrikes on ISIL in Iraq include the US,Australia,Belgium,Canada,Denmark,France,Jordan,the Netherlands and the UK.