Iraq: US air strike on Islamic State militants
The US says it has launched an air
strike against militants from the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq.
The Pentagon said American aircraft attacked artillery that was being used
against Kurdish forces defending the northern city of Irbil. President Barack Obama authorised air strikes on Thursday, but said he would not send US troops back to Iraq.
The Sunni Muslim group IS, formerly known as Isis, now has control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
In June, IS took control of the city of Mosul. Earlier this week, its fighters seized Qaraqosh, Iraq's biggest Christian town.
The advance of IS also forced tens of thousands of people from the Yazidi community - another minority group in northern Iraq - to leave their homes and seek shelter on a nearby mountain.
The United Nations says it is working on opening a humanitarian corridor in northern Iraq to allow stranded people to flee.
Struggle for Iraq: In maps
According to the Pentagon statement, two F/A-18 aircraft dropped 500-pound laser-guided bombs on mobile artillery near Irbil, where US personnel are based.
RAF planes to drop food aid in Iraq
British forces are to drop food aid
for Iraqi refugees under threat from militants, the defence secretary said.
Michael Fallon said the UK's main focus was supporting the US in its planned
air strikes on militants with surveillance and refuelling.But there will also be food drops, targeting members of the Yazidi community trapped on a mountainside.
David Cameron welcomed US air strikes against the Islamic State militants but ruled out any UK military action.
The prime minister said the world must help religious minorities in Iraq who are under threat from the militants "in their hour of desperate need".
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has advised Britons not to travel to those parts of Iraqi Kurdistan affected by fighting and to leave areas close to the conflict.
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