The US has carried out its first air strike against Islamic State (IS) militants under a new strategy to “degrade and destroy” the group, BBC reported.
US officials said the strike destroyed an IS fighting position near Baghdad, five days after President Obama outlined his new anti-IS strategy. IS has seized large areas of Syria and Iraq and declared a “caliphate.”
Meanwhile, Iraq’s new PM saw his two nominations for defence and interior minister rejected by parliament. The rejections of the two key posts are a setback for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. The US has also been building a broad coalition to fight the jihadist group, which is also known as Isil or Isis. US Central Command said Monday’s strike was “the first taken as part of our expanded efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions.”
It did not specify the exact location, but Iraqi security spokesman Lt Gen Qassem Atta told AFP news agency it was “an important strike” in Sadr al-Yusufiya, 25km (15 miles) from the capital.
In northern Iraq, Kurdish “peshmerga” forces backed by US surveillance jets and drones have been advancing against IS positions, the BBC’s Jim Muir reports. An attack into the IS-held plain of Mosul, east of the city, began at dawn while on the other side of Mosul, the Kurds have also been pressing towards the town of Zumar.
