‘We are fighting a terrorist state’

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.

That marked a third successive day of US airstrikes, which Central Command said were aimed at protecting Kurdish peshmerga forces as they face off against the militants near Irbil.

The Islamists’ advance in the past week has forced tens of thousands to flee, threatened Irbil and provoked the first US attacks since Washington withdrew troops from Iraq in late 2011, nearly nine years after invading to oust Saddam Hussein.