Washington (CNN)The
Department of Defense has released declassified video from its January
11 bombing of an ISIS cash depot in Mosul, Iraq, which was first
reported exclusively by CNN.
The
video, which has no sound, begins moments before a pair of 2,000-pound
bomb strikes the building. After the explosion, clouds of cash are seen
fluttering in the air and later scatter on top of the roofs of nearby
buildings.
Officials did not say exactly how much money was there or in what currency, but it was described as "millions."
"It
was a good strike. And we estimate that it served to deprive ISIL of
millions of dollars," said Gen. Lloyd Austin, head of the U.S. Central
Command, using another name for ISIS. "And 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."
Austin said that this is not the first strike on an ISIS cash storage site.
"ISIL
needs those funds to pay their fighters, to recruit new fighters and to
conduct their various maligned activities," Austin said about the
money. "You know, we said from the outset of this campaign that to
defeat ISIL, we're going to have to take away its ability to resource"
itself.
CNN.
YEMI.
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