News Digest

Video: Millions in IS cash blown up by huge US airstrike in Iraq

Video shows millions of dollars of Islamic State (IS) funds being blown up in an American airstrike. The aerial footage, released by the US Defense Department, shows a building being targeted in Mosul - the extremist group’s main stronghold in Iraq. Clouds of paper bills quickly fill the air as the building is flattened by two 2,000-pound bombs. The Pentagon said several millions of dollars in cash were destroyed, but the exact amount is not known.

It was a good strike. And we estimate that it served to deprive ISIL of millions of dollars.

Gen. Lloyd Austin, head of the U.S. Central Command, speaking to CNN

The US-led coalition has been targeting IS oil resources and cash piles in the hope of sapping its financial strength. The terror group also has a small army of tax collectors raking in nearly as much from zakat tax, a form of almsgiving in Islam, according to the Financial Times. Zakat requires Muslims to hand over part of their income - and can be given to those who are fighting for a holy cause. IS takes 2.5% of capital from wealthy residents and businesses, 5% of irrigated crops and 10% of rain-fed crops from farmers. The result is hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue each year, the FT said. It even collected £16m ($23m) in taxes on salaries the Iraqi government paid to officials in Mosul after the city was taken over by IS.

Combined with all of the other strikes that we’ve done on ISIL’s gas and oil production and distribution capabilities and strikes against his economic infrastructure and the various sources of revenue, you can bet that (it) is feeling the strain on his checkbook.

Gen. Lloyd Austin