U.S. Marine killed in Iraq after rocket attack | CNN Politics

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U.S. Marine killed in ISIS attack in Iraq

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U.S. Marine killed in ISIS attack in Iraq

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A man from Lancashire who encouraged Islamic extremists to wage jihad in the West, including targeting Prince George and injecting poison in to supermarket ice-cream, has been convicted today (31 May).
Husnain Rashid, 32, posted messages online glorifying successful terrorist atrocities committed by others while encouraging and inciting his readers to plan and commit attacks.
One of his posts included a photograph of Prince George, along with the address of his school, a black silhouette of a jihad fighter and the message ìeven the royal family will not be left aloneî.
His common theme was that attacks could be carried out by one individual acting alone. Rashid suggested perpetrators had the option of using poisons, vehicles, weapons, bombs, chemicals or knives. Rashid uploaded terrorist material to an online library he created with the goal of helping others plan an attack.
He also planned to travel to Turkey and Syria with the intention of fighting in Daesh-controlled territories. He contacted individuals he believed to be in Daesh territory, seeking advice on how to reach Syria and how to obtain the required authorisation necessary to join a fighting group.
Rashid provided one individual who had travelled to Syria and was known online as ìRepunzelî, with information about methods of shooting down aircraft and jamming missile systems.
All the offences relate to Rashidís activities online between October 2016 and his arrest in November 2017.
Rashidís trial started on 23 May at Woolwich Crown Court but he changed his plea to guilty on four counts on 31 May. He will be sentenced on 28 June.
Sue Hemming from the CPS said: ìHusnain Rashid is an extremist who not only sought to encourage others to commit attacks on targets in the West but was planning to travel aboard so he could fight himself.
ìHe tried to argue that he had not done anything illegal but with the overwhelming weight of evidence against him he changed his plea to guilty.
ìThe judge will now deci

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(FILES) This image grab taken from a propaganda video released on July 5, 2014 by al-Furqan Media allegedly shows the leader of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, aka Caliph Ibrahim, adressing Muslim worshippers at a mosque in the militant-held northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
The Russian army on June 16, 2017 said it hit Islamic State leaders in an airstrike in Syria last month and was seeking to verify whether IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed. In a statement, the army said Sukhoi warplanes carried out a 10-minute night-time strike on May 28 at a location near Raqa, where IS leaders had gathered to plan a pullout by militants from the group's stronghold.
/ AFP PHOTO / AL-FURQAN MEDIA / --/AFP/Getty Images

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Story highlights

A U.S. Marine was killed in a rocket attack by ISIS on a base at Makhmur in northern Iraq, the Pentagon said Saturday

Cook added that several other Marines were wounded, though he did not provide details on their conditions

CNN —

A U.S. Marine was killed in a rocket attack by ISIS on a base at Makhmur in northern Iraq, the Pentagon said Saturday.

Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook confirmed the death in a statement. He said the Marine was “providing force protection fire support at a recently established coalition fire base near Makhmur in northern Iraq.”

Cook added that several other Marines were wounded, though he did not provide details on their conditions.

On Sunday, the Pentagon identified the slain Marine as Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin, of Temecula, California. Cardin was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, the Pentagon said.

The base is where the U.S. has been conducting advise-and-assist activities as part of the coalition effort against ISIS, a U.S. official told CNN.

On Sunday, defense officials revealed that attack occurred at the first American firebase that had only become operational a few days earlier.

The existence of the firebase had not previously been made public and he Pentagon had planned to acknowledge the firebase this week, a defense official told CNN.

The rugged location for now has a “couple of hundred” Marines living in tents near Makhmour in northern Iraq. It’s assumed ISIS observed the Marines moving into the area and saw them firing practice rounds with their howitzers, the official said.

Iraqi General Sirwan Barzani told CNN that the attack occurred around 9:30 a.m. local time.

Barzani added that his men in Makhmour are receiving rocket fire daily and some attacks have claimed Iraqi soldiers and Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

The last U.S. service member to be killed in Iraq as a result of hostile enemy action was Army Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, of Roland, Oklahoma, who died in October during a rescue mission in northern Iraq. Wheeler was the first American to die in combat in Iraq since November 2011.

Sunday marks the 13th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War.

CNN’s Muhammad Jambaz and Jamie Crawford contributed to this report.