The US has launched an air strike against militants from the Islamic
State (IS) group in northern Iraq. The Pentagon said its aircraft attacked artillery being used against Kurdish forces defending the city of Irbil.
The Sunni Muslim group IS, formerly known as Isis, now has control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes due to the militants' advance. The US has also confirmed that IS has seized Iraq's largest dam.
According to US officials, the dam is a vital part of Iraq's infrastructure as it controls water levels on the Tigris River and is a key source of water and electricity generation for the Iraqi people.
According to the Pentagon statement, two F/A-18 aircraft from an aircraft carrier in the Gulf dropped 500-pound laser-guided bombs on mobile artillery near Irbil, where US personnel are based.
The air strike is the first time the US has been directly involved in a military operation in Iraq since American troops withdrew in late 2011.
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 its 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 leave their homes and escape to a nearby mountain.
Source:BBC
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