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ISIS Throws Hotel Pool Party, F-16s Bomb It. 67 Dead

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Russ Read Pentagon/Foreign Policy Reporter
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Iraqi fighter jets blew up 67 Islamic State fighters attending a “war room” meeting at a hotel pool in Mosul, Iraq.

The F-16 fighters struck the gathering at around 11 p.m. Tuesday night as part of an ongoing offensive against ISIS forces in Mosul, according to Kurdish media outlet Rudaw.

The ISIS fighters met at the renowned Ninawa International, a luxury five-star hotel located along the beautiful Tigris river just north of Mosul’s al-Andalus neighborhood. ISIS renamed the establishment, the “Inheritors Hotel” after seizing the city in 2014. The terrorist group defaced the hotel’s ornate decorations, which are considered idolatrous, before re-opening it. Today, the Ninawa is a well-known venue for ISIS weddings, given its large ballrooms. It also sports 262 fully-furnished rooms, offering plenty of space for visiting jihadists.

TripAdvisor reviews of the hotel pre-ISIS show were resoundingly positive. The site noted the Ninawa is an “amazing 5-stars hotel with affordable room rate.” It is unclear whether the new management has changed the rates, as the hotel’s TripAdvisor appears to have been removed.

The strike on the pool party was one of dozens of attacks softening up ISIS targets in Mosul as Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) continue their invasion of the city. Elements belonging to the ISF reportedly entered the city limits around the same time the strike occurred, marking the first time Iraqi forces have entered the city in over two years.

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