US airstrike targets 'IS' near Baghdad

US Central Command said in a statement on Monday that its forces conducted airstrikes on two targets - one close to Baghdad - tied to the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" group.

"US military forces continued to attack ISIL (IS) terrorists in Iraq, employing attack and fighter aircraft to conduct two airstrikes Sunday and Monday in support of Iraqi security forces near Sinjar and southwest of Baghdad," Central Command's statement said. ISIL - sometimes also written ISIS - was the previous name claimed by "IS".

The US began airstrikes against IS positions, mostly in northern Iraq, last month; Monday's announcement was seen as an indicator that the mission was expanding in scope.

"The airstrike southwest of Baghdad was the first strike taken as part of our expanded efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions to hit ISIL targets as Iraqi forces go on offense, as outlined in the president's speech last Wednesday," Central Command said. "All aircraft exited the strike areas safely."

'No time to lose'

The US has launched more than 160 airstrikes on IS targets in Iraq. News of Monday's strikes followed an international conference in Paris where nearly 30 assembled countries pledged to support Iraq "by any means necessary" against the IS insurgency.

"Iraq's struggle against terrorism is also our struggle," French President Francois Hollande said on opening the conference with his Iraqi counterpart, Fouad Massoum. Hollande also said that there was "no time to lose" against the Sunni extremists, who control significant stretches of territory in Iraq and Syria.

Massoum said that confronting the extremists "wherever they are" was the only way to keep them at bay.

"Militarily, we don't need troops on the ground but rather air cover and the expertise of countries like France," Massoum told Europe 1 radio.

Around 40 countries have pledged some form of assistance in the US-led fight agaisnt IS. France has pledged to carry out airstrikes along with the US forces; Britain has not ruled out the possibility. Germany, which broke its policies on sending weapons to conflict zones by agreeing to arm Kurdish peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq, has ruled out airstrikes over Iraq.

In a major speech last week, US President Barack Obama vowed an expanded military response to IS, saying strikes could also take place against targets in Syria. Such a mission could prove problematic, however. Iraq formally requested Western military assistance against IS. Western governments have said that they will not work in conjunction with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

msh/crh (AFP, dpa, Reuters)