Hackers claiming to be working on behalf of Islamic State militants briefly seized control of the Twitter and YouTube sites of the military’s US Central Command yesterday.

Sweeping anti-terror laws will be before the Dáil in weeks after ministers said the country is on "alert" for Paris-style jihadist attacks.

Hackers claiming to be working on behalf of Islamic State militants briefly seized control of the Twitter and YouTube sites of the military’s US Central Command.

The Twitter site of the US Central Command military agency has been taken over by hackers claiming to be working on behalf of Islamic State militants.

Fighters from the Islamic State group have launched a new offensive on the northern Syrian town of Kobani after shelling the area from their positions nearby, activists said.

US-led coalition air strikes on Syria have killed more than 500 people, mainly Islamic militants, since they began last month, activists said as fighting flared in the northern Syrian border town of Kobani.

Turkey’s foreign minister said his country is helping Iraqi Kurdish forces cross into the Syrian border town of Kobani "to give support" to fellow Kurdish fighters defending the town against Islamic State militants.

Turkey’s top diplomat has announced that his country is helping Iraqi Kurdish fighters cross into Syria to “give support” to fellow Kurds defending the border town of Kobani from Islamic State militants.

The US military has airdropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to Kurdish forces defending the Syrian city of Kobani against Islamic State militants.

Turkey will let US and coalition forces use its bases for attacks against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and Iraq, American defence sources have said.

America wants to know how far Turkey is willing to go in helping train and equip moderate opposition fighters trying to topple Syrian president Bashar Assad, including whether it will conduct training on its own land, US defence secretary Chuck Hagel has said.

The US-led coalition has intensified its aerial bombardment of Islamic State (IS) positions in the Syrian border town of Kobani as the extremist group fought street battles with Kurdish forces and reportedly rushed in reinforcements.

The US-led coalition intensified its aerial bombardment of Islamic State positions in the Syrian border town of Kobani yesterday as the extremist group fought street battles with Kurdish forces and reportedly rushed in reinforcements.

The US-led coalition intensified its aerial bombardment of Islamic State positions in the Syrian border town of Kobani today as the extremist group fought street battles with Kurdish forces and reportedly rushed in reinforcements.

A British man who had been held hostage by militants in Libya has been released, the British Foreign Office said.

US fighter jets and bombers have pounded Islamic State targets in both Syria and Iraq.

US fighter jets and bombers have pounded Islamic State targets, striking the militants in both Syria and Iraq.

US President Barack Obama has reaffirmed that he does not intend to send US troops into combat against the Islamic State group, despite doubts about the ability of Iraqi forces, Kurdish fighters, and Syrian rebels to carry out the ground fight on their own.

The militant Islamic State group has released a video warning the US that fighters await in Iraq if Barack Obama sends troops there.

The US military has stepped up its campaign against Islamic State (IS) militants with five airstrikes across Iraq.

The United States has taken the first step in its expanded fight against Islamic State (IS) militants, going to the aid of Iraqi security forces near Baghdad who were being attacked by enemy fighters.

Kurdish forces took over parts of Iraq’s largest dam yesterday less than two weeks after it was captured by the Islamic State extremist group, as US and Iraqi planes aided their advance by bombing militant targets near the facility.

US air strikes continued in Iraq yesterday as US Central Command said drones and jet aircraft hit Islamic State armed trucks and mortar positions near Irbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region.

The top US commander in Afghanistan has been cleared of sending inappropriate emails to a woman linked to the sex scandal that forced David Petraeus to quit as CIA director.

Truth is, retired Gen H Norman Schwarzkopf didn’t care much for his popular “Stormin’ Norman” nickname.

Retired US General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who commanded the international coalition that drove Saddam Hussein’s forces out of Kuwait in 1991, has died. He was 78.

Internal emails among US military officers indicate that no sailors watched Osama bin Laden’s burial at sea from the USS Carl Vinson and traditional Islamic procedures were followed during the ceremony.

FBI agents are at the home of the woman whose affair with retired General David Petraeus led to his resignation as CIA director.

A Pakistani parliamentary commission today demanded an end to American drone attacks inside the country and an apology for deadly US air strikes in November as part of proposed new terms in the country’s troubled relations with the United States.

AMBASSADOR Modai is wrong if he thinks Israeli oppression of Palestinians is not a recruiting sergeant for al-Qaida (Analysis, Sept 24).

Pakistan’s army chief will convene a special meeting of senior commanders today following US allegations that the military’s spy agency helped militants attack American targets in Afghanistan, the army said.

BRITISH defence secretary Liam Fox will visit the US to discuss the implications for Britain of the intelligence seized from Osama bin Laden’s compound when the terror chief was killed last week.

BRITISH defence secretary Liam Fox will visit the US to discuss the implications for Britain of the intelligence seized from Osama bin Laden’s compound when the terror chief was killed last week.

The US Afghanistan commander General David Petraeus is to be made the new head of the CIA, security sources have said.

The US Afghanistan commander general David Petraeus is to be made new head of the CIA, security sources have said.

All four American hostages on a yacht taken by pirates off Somalia have been killed, the US military said.

Military documents laid bare in the biggest leak of secret information in US history suggest that far more Iraqis died than previously acknowledged during the years of sectarian bloodletting and criminal violence unleashed by the 2003 US-led invasion.

THE WikiLeaks website is today expected to release what the Pentagon fears is the largest cache of secret US documents in history – hundreds of thousands of intelligence reports compiled after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The WikiLeaks website appears close to releasing what the Pentagon fears is the largest cache of secret US documents in history – hundreds of thousands of intelligence reports compiled after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The US Senate unanimously confirmed General David Petraeus as the new commander of the Afghanistan war today.

President Obama today dismissed Afghanistan war commander General Stanley McChrystal over critical remarks he made about the administration in a magazine, according to Associated Press sources.

The US military said two heavily armed people were in custody after trying to enter MacDill Air Force Base outside Tampa.

Thousands of grieving, angry mourners flooded the main square in the capital of Kyrgyzstan today to honour victims of the country‘s revolt – with many blaming the absent president for ordering security forces to fire on those protesting against his government.