MOSCOW, August 10 (RIA Novosti) - The United States conducted four additional airstrikes on positions of Islamic State (IS) militants, who took control of several provinces in Iraq, Associated Press reported Sunday, citing the US military.
According to the agency, the operation involved manned and unmanned aircrafts of US Air Force.
One truck and several armored vehicles, which reportedly were used by the militants to fight civilians, were destroyed as a result of the airstrikes.
The US military estimated the operation as successful. No casualties among IS militants were reported.
This is a third round of airstrikes conducted by the United States in Iraq. Earlier on Friday, Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said the US military conducted two additional airstrikes to help defend the Iraqi city of Erbil.
Kirby also noted that four F/A-18 aircraft struck a convoy of seven vehicles and a mortar position of Islamic State militants near Erbil.
Prior to that, Pentagon has announced that US combat aircraft conducted an airstrike on positions of Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq against Kurdish forces defending the city of Erbil.
US President Barack Obama gave the green light to US airstrikes on IS targets late on Thursday, saying that the offensive would seek to lift the IS siege of Erbil to prevent the "genocide" of the Yazidi population.
The Islamic State is a Sunni group that has been fighting in Syria and launched an offensive in Iraq in June. The group has taken over large parts of the country, with the goal of seizing Baghdad. Also in June, the group announced the establishment of a caliphate on the Iraq-Syria border.
Iraqi Kurds have already re-established military cooperation with Baghdad in an effort to drive the IS fighters back. Like Moscow, the United Nations Security Council has called on all Iraqi communities to unite and respond to the threat to Iraq’s future.
