US air strike on Islamic State militants in Iraq

Islamic State fighters have taken control of large parts of northern Iraq since launching an offensive in June

Two U.S. F/A-18 jet fighters bombed artillery of Sunni Islamic extremists in Iraq on Friday, escalating America's military involvement more than two years after President Barack Obama brought home forces from the country.

Obama authorized "targeted airstrikes" if needed to protect U.S. personnel from fighters with the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. The U.S. military also could use airstrikes to prevent what officials warn could be a genocide of minority groups by the Islamic State fighters.

U.S. warplanes patrolling the skies over northern Iraq have a "green light" to go after perceived ISIS threats to the Kurdish capital, Irbil, or to minority populations, said deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes.

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.