US Air Strike Supports Iraqi Troops Under Attack

The US military said Monday's strike had destroyed an IS fighting position south-west of Baghdad that had been firing on Iraqi forces.

It comes a week after US President Barack Obama outlined his new strategy to defeat the jihadist movement.

The US has been building a broad international coalition to fight IS.

The jihadist group, also known as Isil or Isis, originated in Syria and has swept through parts of western and northern Iraq. It now controls large areas of both countries.

The US statement said an IS position near Sinjar in the north had also been targeted on Sunday.

"US military forces continued to attack Isil terrorists in Iraq, employing attack and fighter aircraft to conduct two air strikes Sunday and Monday in support of Iraqi security forces near Sinjar and south-west of Baghdad," US Central Command said.

"The air strike south-west of Baghdad was the first taken as part of our expanded efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions to hit Isil targets as Iraqi forces go on offence, as outlined in the president's speech last Wednesday."

The US has conducted more than 160 airstrikes across Iraq since August.

Previous US air strikes in Iraq were carried out to protect US interests and personnel, help Iraqi refugees and secure infrastructure.

In another development, Iraq has criticised the decision not to invite Iran to Monday's Paris summit on the IS threat.

Thirty countries pledged to join a US-led coalition against IS at the talks.

Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said the decision not to include Iran was "regrettable".

"We believe that all world countries are concerned about the danger of terrorism," he said.

"Iran is our neighbour, it assisted us and it should have been present, but we are not the party responsible for inviting parties," he added.

He said he did not expect foreign ground troops to become involved in either Iraq or Syria.

Iran and Syria share most of Iraq's borders, but relations between them and the US are fraught.

Last week, US Secretary of State John Kerry ruled out co-operation with Iran, citing its "engagement in Syria and elsewhere".

But Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that the US had requested Iran's co-operation via the US ambassador to Iraq.

"I said no, because they have dirty hands," he said. He added the US was seeking a "pretext to do in Iraq and Syria what it already does in Pakistan - bomb anywhere without authorisation".

Syria also did not take part in the Paris gathering.

France said on Monday it had begun surveillance flights over Iraq. Britain revealed in August that its aircraft had been gathering intelligence over Iraq.

The CIA estimates IS has between 20,000 and 31,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria.