US fighter jets bombard ISIL terrorists near Erbil

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) US fighter jets hit Islamic State (IS/ISIS/ISIL) positions in northwestern Iraq on Friday, after President Barack Obama authorized strikes to push back the militants’ advance towards the city of Erbil in the Kurdistan Region.

“At approximately 6:45 a.m. EDT (Eastern Daylight Time — 10:45 GMT) the US military conducted a targeted airstrike against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorists,” Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said in a statement.

“Two F/A-18 aircraft dropped 500-pound laser-guided bombs on a mobile artillery piece near Erbil. ISIL was using this artillery to shell Kurdish forces defending Erbil where US personnel are located,” Kirby said, confirming the presence of US forces.

Kurdish sources told Rudaw that the US air campaign against IS positions had begun at 2 a.m. local time. 

They said the positions hit were in Gwer and Makhmour in Nineveh province, where the Peshmerga have engaged the Islamists for days in intense fighting.

Sirwan Barzani, a Kurdish commander in Makhmour, said that US fighter jets had accurately struck IS artillery positions that were pounding Peshmerga forces near Gwer.

Kurdish forces have held back IS advances near Gwer, west of Erbil, in intense clashes for the past several days. /End/