Airstrike video shows ISIL prison being destroyed

The U.S. military released a video Sunday showing the destruction by coalition aircraft of the Islamic State prison where an American commando died during an operation last week to free 70 Iraqi captives facing execution.

The raid occurred shortly after U.S. Special Forces troops and Kurdish commandos freed the captives early Thursday morning.U.S. Army Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler, 39, was killed by small-arms fire during the raid, the first U.S. combat casualty in the war against the Islamic State.

A second video surfacing over the weekend, apparently from the body camera of one of the troops involved in the raid, shows footage of the prisoners being freed and led single file from the prison as Kurdish and U.S. commandos forcibly enter the facility.

Wheeler was killed during the early stages of the raid when U.S. special forces troops moved to assist Kurdish commandos who were pinned down by Islamic fighters as they approached the prison. Military officials said that despite Wheeler's death, the raid was a success with the freeing of 70 captives hours from being executed. The commandos killed 15 fighters for the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or Daesh.

"The rescue of these Iraqis from a barbaric execution at the hands of the Daesh captors underscores the timeliness and importance of the counter-terrorism mission and highlights why we must degrade and ultimately defeat Daesh," said U.S. Army Col. Christopher Garver, a spokesman for the U.S. coalition fighting the Islamic State.