Britain conducts further precision air strikes on IS targets

Xinhua

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Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft have conducted a precision bomb attack on an armed Islamic State (IS) pick-up truck in Iraq, British Ministry of Defense (MoD) said Thursday.

"RAF Tornados have conducted further operations to support Kurdish ground forces engaged in combat with ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) in northwest Iraq," the MoD said in a statement.

The MoD said the precision attack on the armed pick-up truck, conducted overnight with a Paveway IV guided bomb, was successful.

RAF Tornados aircraft have been assisting Kurdish forces engaged in combat with IS, also known as ISIL.

On Wednesday, two Tornados on patrol over northwest Iraq were tasked to assist Kurdish ground forces.

The aircraft pinpointed the location from which IS militants were "directing heavy fire" on the Kurdish troops and conducted a precision strike with Paveway IV guided bombs.

"Initial reports indicate that the strike was successful," the MoD noted.

Britain's first bombing strikes on an IS heavy weapon position, conducted by RAF in Iraq on Tuesday, were also successful, according to the assessment announced by the MoD.

On Tuesday, British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said that halting the advance of IS and helping the Iraqi government turn it back, and helping the Iraqi army and Kurdish forces to do that, is a huge task and is going to be a long campaign.

Britain's House of Commons on Friday voted in favor of a government motion on air strikes in Iraq against IS after nearly seven hours of debate, which ended up with a vote of 524 to 43.

The lawmakers of Britain supported the military action against IS militants, but the authorization ruled out deploying British troops in ground combat operations. Enditem