Smoke rises from airstrikes targeting Islamic State militants near the Khazer checkpoint outside Irbil in northern Iraq Friday. (AP Photo via AP video)
American officials say the U.S. launched a second round of airstrikes against Islamic State targets near Irbil on Friday, using drones and fighter jets.<br />
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The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the strikes by name, say unmanned aircraft struck a mortar near Irbil and four Navy F/A-18 fighter jets struck a seven-vehicle convoy outside Irbil. The jets flew off the USS George HW Bush aircraft carrier.<br />
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The Friday afternoon strikes followed a morning strike on an Islamic State artillery gun that was firing on Kurdish troops near U.S. personnel. President Barack Obama said late Thursday that the U.S. would launch airstrikes on the militant group that was threatening American military trainers in the northeastern Iraq city.<br />
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The officials say the convoy was destroyed.<br />
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Meanwhile, hundreds of women from the Yazidi religious minority have been taken captive by Sunni militants with "vicious plans," an Iraqi official said Friday, further underscoring the dire plight of Iraq's minorities at the hands of the Islamic State group. (See related story. Link below.)
