F-16 airstrike kills 3 terrorist leaders

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SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  An Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon dropped precision munitions near Al Nussayyib, Iraq, Sept. 25 killing Abu Nasr al-Tunisi and two other al-Qaida Iraq operatives, according to Air Force officials. 

They were killed when the aircraft, assigned to U.S. Central Command Air Forces, dropped two laser-guided 500-lb joint direct attack munition guided bomb unit-12 bombs, destroying the terrorist safe house where the three were meeting.

"Airpower is crucial to setting the conditions for stability in Iraq," said Lt. Gen. Gary L. North, the Combined Air Forces component commander. "Airpower overhead provides capability to the fight with precision targeting, which was used on (Sept. 25) to ensure these individuals could no longer target innocent Iraqi citizens."

Coalition Air Forces play a critical role in synchronizing and integrating day-to-day ground operations by providing close-air support, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, theater airlift, air-to-air refueling and aeromedical evacuation -- key and crucial components for the joint force commanders, joint and combined forces and the forces of NATO's International Security Assistance Force operations.

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