The US military has flown 2,320 air strikes against Islamic State militants since August 8 at a cost of $1.83 billion (114.34 billion rupees), hitting thousands of targets including tanks, oil infrastructure and fighting positions, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
The strikes by US forces amounted to about 80 per cent of the total number carried out by a multinational coalition. In all, the partners have flown 2,893 air strikes, with 1,631 in Iraq and 1,262 in Syria, hitting 5,314 targets.
More than 60 countries are in the coalition against Islamic State. The United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom conduct air strikes in Iraq. The United States, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates carry them out in Syria.
Coalition strikes have hit 73 tanks, some of them US-made Iraqi M1A1 Abrams tanks seized when Islamic State militants overran northwestern parts Iraq last year. They also destroyed 282 Humvee vehicles that had been taken from Iraqi forces.
An air strike can involve multiple weapons against multiple targets.
As of March 12, the Pentagon had spent about $1.83 billion on the strikes, an average of about $8.5 million daily, Warren said.
"The drone was not shot down. We observed it flying for approximately 20 minutes. We observed it land. We observed the enemy place the drone in the trunk of a car and we struck the car, destroying both the vehicle and the model airplane in the trunk," Warren said.
"To my knowledge this is the first time we've observed ISIL using these types of equipment," Warren said, using an acronym for the group.
Trump To Hold Press Conference, His Campaign Adds Senior Advisers US Judge Says "Monopolist" Google Can't Avoid App Store Reforms Amid War, US Approves $20 Billion Arms Package For Israel Nurse Raped, Killed On Way Home, Body Found 9 Days Later In UP "Don't Expect Anything From Me": Kolkata Hospital's New Principal Loses Cool This US City Has Been Declared America's Least Desirable, Survey Finds Ukraine, Russia Both Claim Advances In Kursk Region Gaza Ceasefire Talks Underway In Qatar As Deaths Top 40,000 Trump To Hold Press Conference, His Campaign Adds Senior Advisers Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.