U.S. helicopter gunships on Wednesday carried out raids on four positions held by the Daesh militant group near Iraq’s northern city of Mosul, a Daesh stronghold, leaving more than 15 militants dead, according to a Kurdish Peshmerga officer. “U.S. apaches carried out a string of raids on Daesh positions on the outskirts of Al-Fadeliya [a town located 17 kilometers northeast of Mosul],” Lieut. Raed Mazouri of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces told Anadolu Agency. Iraq has suffered from a security vacuum since the summer of last year, when Daesh militants overran the northern Mosul province. Massacres perpetrated by the group in the latter half of 2014 – along with the forced deportation of minority populations from areas held by Daesh – led to the establishment of a U.S.-led coalition last September to combat the extremist group. In the ten months since, the coalition has carried out numerous airstrikes against Daesh […]