Isis rocket expert behind fatal attack on US marines killed in drone strike

An Islamic State (Isis) rocket expert, allegedly responsible for a deadly attack on US troops in Iraq in March, has been killed in a drone strike, coalition spokesman US army colonel Steve Warren told reporters in Baghdad.

Jasim Khadijah, a former Iraqi officer not considered a high-value target, was killed in the strike over night, Reuters reported.

"We have information [that] he was a rocket expert, he controlled these attacks," said Warren, referring to a recent shelling of an Iraqi military base in Iraq used by US troops, in which marine staff sergeant Louis Cardin was killed.

He was the second US serviceman to be killed Iraq since the US began its campaign to oust Isis from the country in 2014. Cardin's unit was providing support for Iraqi forces in a base near Makhmour, south-east of Isis-held Mosul, when he was killed.

Warren said that eight other militants were killed in the air strike.

On 3 April, Syrian officials announced that government forces had retaken the town of al-Qaryatain from Isis. The town is located 60 miles (95km) west of the ancient city of Palmyra, which was seized from Isis by Syrian government forces backed by Russian air strikes last week.