Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Make a sustaining gift today to support local journalism!

U.S. Launches Airstrikes In Iraq

Four U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet aircraft fly over mountains in Afghanistan on Nov. 25, 2010.  (DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Andy M. Kin, U.S. Air Force)
Four U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet aircraft fly over mountains in Afghanistan on Nov. 25, 2010. (DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Andy M. Kin, U.S. Air Force)

The Pentagon says two U.S. fighter jets dropped bombs on Islamic militants in Iraq towing artillery outside Irbil near U.S. personnel.

Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby says two F/A-18 jets dropped 500-pound bombs on a piece of artillery and the truck towing it.

President Barack Obama authorized such airstrikes Thursday when the Islamic state militant group advanced on Irbil, in northeastern Iraq, where U.S. military trainers are stationed.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the U.S. military has enough intelligence to clearly single out Islamic militants and launch effective airstrikes if they threaten U.S. interests or the thousands of refugees who fled to a mountaintop.

Hagel also says that more than 60 of 72 bundles of food and water airdropped onto the mountain reached the Iraqi religious minorities stranded there.

Guest

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

The Associated Press

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.