http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/world/middleeast/us-airstrikes-in-iraq-target-isis-leaders.html 2014-11-08 22:49:24 U.S. Airstrikes in Iraq Target ISIS Leaders Fighter jets from a United States-led coalition hit a gathering of leaders of the Islamic State group in northwestern Iraq on Saturday, and Iraqi officials said they believed a number of top militants had been killed. === BAGHDAD — An airstrike by a United States-led coalition hit a gathering of leaders of the Islamic State jihadist group in northwestern Two Iraqi officials said that at least one strike had targeted a meeting near the town of Qaim, which is in Anbar Province, just across the border from the Syrian town of Bukamal. The area is in the desert heartland of the territory the group has seized for its self-declared caliphate. Both officials said that the strikes had killed many militants from the Islamic State, also known as A Defense Department official confirmed that coalition aircraft had carried out an air attack “against what was assessed to be a gathering of ISIL leaders,” but said the strike had been near Mosul, which is 180 miles from Qaim. The discrepancy in the reported locations could not be immediately explained. The defense official also said there had been no confirmation that Mr. Baghdadi was present at the meeting. If confirmed, the death of high-ranking Islamic State leaders would be a blow to the group and would indicate that the United States and its allies have a means of tracking some of its most important figures. The Iraqi officials said they believed that the dead included the Islamic State ruler, or wali, of Anbar Province, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Muhannad al-Sweidawi, and the ruler of Deir al-Zour Province in Syria, Abu Zahra al-Mahamdi. Hisham Alhashimi, an Iraqi researcher and an expert on the group, said that he, too, had heard that both men were dead, and that their killings would constitute a new threat to the group. Mr. Alhashimi said that Mr. Sweidawi, like many of the group’s top leaders, had served in the Iraqi Army under Saddam Hussein and joined Al Qaeda after Mr. Hussein’s fall from power. Like Mr. Baghdadi, he had been detained by American forces but later released, Mr. Alhashimi said. The Islamic State did not immediately issue any statement on the strikes.