WASHINGTON: American commandos deployed deep into Iranian territory to rescue a downed airman, US information retailers reported on Sunday (Apr 5), hours after President Donald Trump introduced that the crew member had been recovered “secure and sound”.
Tehran mentioned this week it had shot down an F-15 warplane, the primary US fighter jet to go down inside Iran for the reason that begin of the warfare. Washington has not confirmed the small print of how the fighter went down.
Trump mentioned early on Sunday the US army had “pulled off probably the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in US Historical past, for one among our unimaginable Crew Member Officers, who additionally occurs to be a extremely revered Colonel, and who I’m thrilled to let is now SAFE and SOUND!”.
Navy SEAL Workforce 6 commandos have been tasked with extracting the airman, whereas US assault plane dropped bombs and opened fireplace on Iranian convoys to maintain them away, the New York Occasions reported, citing an unidentified official.
The airman, a weapon methods officer, was wounded after the ejection however might nonetheless stroll, evading seize within the mountains for greater than a day, in response to information outlet Axios, which cited a US official.
The unidentified airman was outfitted with a pistol, a beacon and a safe communications gadget to coordinate with rescuers, the New York Occasions reported.
American commandos converging on the officer fired their weapons to maintain Iranian forces away from the rescue web site, the Occasions mentioned.
Trump wrote on his Reality Social platform that he had directed the US army to ship “dozens of plane, armed with probably the most deadly weapons within the World, to retrieve” him.
“He sustained accidents, however he might be simply effective,” Trump wrote.
