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U.S. weapons airdrop may have fallen into Islamic State hands

"We just don't know," U.S. military says of missing weapon cache's ultimate fate. Officials initially clamed to have destroyed it with an airstrike.

By Matt Bradwell
U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft with the 36th Airlift Squadron pictured in 2013. (UPI/ Yasuo Osakabe/DoD)
U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft with the 36th Airlift Squadron pictured in 2013. (UPI/ Yasuo Osakabe/DoD) | License Photo

TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 22 (UPI) -- As the U.S. drops weapons caches to Kurdish fighters combating Islamic State militants in Kobani, Syria, the Pentagon is investigating claims one of those caches landed in the hands of IS.

A YouTube video appears to show militants eagerly sift through a U.S.-dropped cache of grenade launchers, grenades and other high powered ammunition.

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"We just don't know" Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters during a press conference at Central Command headquarters in Tampa, adding the cache certainly resembled the caches dropped, "So it's not out of the realm of the possibility in that regard."

"I do want to add, though, that we are very confident that the vast majority of the bundles did end up in the right hands. In fact, we're only aware of one bundle that did not."

Of the 28 weapons caches dropped, the Pentagon confirmed 27 were received, but initially said an airstrike prevented one "stray" bundle from falling into enemy hands.

Kirby said despite the report, the video is being taken seriously and the military is realistically exploring if the airstrike failed to destroy the rouge cache, despite "confirmation."

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"We're aware that one bundle did not make it into the right hands and you saw the CENTCOM release indicating that they destroyed it from the air. All of that doesn't take away from the notion that this video is out there and that it could in fact be that bundle."

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