Urgent – Maliki: Iraq buys used Russian fighter jets

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Commanding General of the Iraqi Armed Forces PM Nouri al-Maliki revealed on Thursday that “Iraq bought used fighter jets from Russia to fight terrorism.”

During a press interview, Maliki said “We bought used fighter jets to be delivered to Iraq within two or three days from Russia and Belarus to battle Islamist militants after long delays in the delivery of F-16 planes from the U.S. which left Iraqi troops without air support.”

“We should not have just bought U.S. jets, we should have bought British, French and Russian jets to provide air support. If we had air support, none of this would have happened,” he said.

Maliki did not reveal the cost or the date of manufacturing these fighter jets.