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| Iraq conflict: US steps up air strikes on IS militants | Iraq conflict: US steps up air strikes on IS militants |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The US has launched two additional air strikes against militants from the Islamic State (IS) group in northern Iraq, the Pentagon has said. | 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. | 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. | 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. | 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. | |
| 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. | |
| Iraq's human rights ministry says the militants have seized hundreds of Yazidi women. | |
| Ministry spokesman Kamil Amin, quoted by the Associated Press news agency, said some were being held in schools in Iraq's second largest city Mosul. He said the information had come from the captives' families. | |
| Analysis: Jonathan Marcus, BBC defence correspondent | |
| Rapid intervention in the north was a special case merited by the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe, but how much more support might the Americans give to the Kurds? | |
| Amid all the talk of centrifugal forces in Iraq, the Kurdish north has the greatest degree of autonomy, some would argue it is already half way out of the door of the Iraqi state. | |
| Such a move would have huge implications for Turkey, Syria and Iran who all have Kurdish minorities. | |
| Reluctant US returns to Iraq frontline amid humanitarian crisis | |
| Political pressure | |
| Back in June, when Isis took over Mosul, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki requested US air strikes to halt the militants' advance - but Washington did not intervene. | |
| Analysts say the relentless advance of IS fighters, together with the continuing failure of Iraqi politicians to agree on a new government, after an inconclusive election in April, may have swayed Mr Obama into deciding to act now. | |
| Mr Maliki has faced calls from Sunni Arab, Kurdish and some Shia Arab leaders to step down because of his handling of the crisis. | |
| But as leader of the bloc that won the most seats in April's parliamentary elections, Mr Maliki has demanded the right to attempt to form a governing coalition. | |
| Iraq's minorities | |
| Christians | |
| Yazidis | |
| Iraq: The minorities of Nineveh | |
| Who are the Yazidis? |