Anti-ISIS coalition airstrikes on Sunday killed a top militant who was responsible for the death of a U.S. Marine in northern Iraq last month, a military spokesman said Sunday.
Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin, 27, was killed and eight other Marines were wounded when their detachment came under rocket fire on March 19. Coalition spokesman Col. Steve Warren said ISIS fighter Jasim Khadijah was a "rocket expert" who "controlled these attacks," according to Reuters.
"Jasim Khadijah was an ISIS member and former Iraqi officer believed directly connected to the recent rocket attack that killed SSG Cardin and wounded eight other U.S. Marines," Warren said.
Warren said the drone strike also killed five other ISIS fighters and destroyed two vehicles belonging to the Islamist group.
Cardin was the second American combat death in Iraq since the start of the campaign to fight ISIS in 2014, according to Reuters.
"The loss of a Marine is sad, but I thought about it: He was leading his Marines in combat," Gen. Robert Neller said at a Marine Corps Association dinner on March 24, according to Military.com. "They were in indirect fire and he made sure everybody got in the bunker, and he just didn't make it in time. Is that sad? That's sad. But if you're going to go, you want to go in the fight."
-- Fox News' Jennifer Griffin contributed to this story.
