Iraq conflict: US steps up air strikes on IS militants

 

 

The US has launched two additional air strikes against militants from the Islamic State (IS) group in northern Iraq, the Pentagon has said.

US drones and Navy fighter jets attacked targets near the city of Irbil - a similar location to the first strike earlier on Friday.

The Sunni Muslim group IS has taken control of swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Tens of thousands of people from minority groups have fled their homes due to the militants' advance.

IS, formerly known as Isis, has also seized Iraq's largest dam.

These air strikes are the first time the US has been directly involved in a military operation in Iraq since American troops withdrew in late 2011.

Convoy targeted

In the second wave of strikes, US drones destroyed a mortar position and killed a group of militants, the Pentagon said.

Then just over an hour later, F/A-18 jets used laser-guided bombs to hit a seven-vehicle convoy of IS vehicles, spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said.

Earlier on Friday, two 500-pound (227kg) bombs were dropped on IS artillery, which was being used against Kurdish forces defending Irbil.

 



  The first air strike came from a Hornet, which was launched from a US aircraft carrier in the Gulf

 

  Islamic State fighters have taken control of large parts of northern Iraq since launching an offensive in June

  Kurdish fighters have been defending the approaches to Irbil - their biggest city - from IS militants

 

  Meanwhile thousands of Iraqi Christians have fled to the Kurdish region

 

Tens of thousands of Yazidis have also fled, many of whom are now stuck on a mountain

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the world needed to wake up to the threat posed by the IS group.

Its "campaign of terror against the innocent, including the Yazidi and Christian minorities" and "grotesque targeted acts of violence show all the warning signs of genocide", he said.

IS fighters seized Qaraqosh, Iraq's biggest Christian town, earlier this week, causing many thousands to flee.

The militants' advance has also forced tens of thousands of Yazidis to escape to a nearby mountain.

Late on Thursday, US military planes carried out air drops of food and water, at the request of the Iraqi government, to help the displaced Yazidis.

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