U.S. military planes dropped the second round of air strikes against Islamic militants in northern Iraq on Friday in an attempt to keep them from advancing further on the Kurdish region capital of Erbil, Defense Department officials said.
A drone was used in an airstrike against a motar position and four FA-18 fighter jets struck a militant convoy approaching Erbil, Rear Admiral John Kirby, press secretary for the Pentagon, said according to USA Today.
"The aircraft executed two planned passes. On both runs, each aircraft dropped one laser guided bomb making a total of eight bombs dropped on target neutralizing the motor and convoy," Kirby said.
Earlier on Friday, two FA-18 jets dropped 500-pound bombs on another militant stronghold outside Erbil in the first air strike.
Jihadists from the Islamic State, formally known as ISIS, have relentlessly tried to seize Erbil, a strategic city where American personnel and a U.S. consulate are located. President Barack Obama warned Thursday night that air strikes would be carried out against the extremists if they threatened to attack the city, which is also referred to as Irbil.
Obama also said the air strikes will be used to prevent the killings of 40,000 religious minorities the Sunni militants chased into the mountains of northern Iraq.
Christians and Yazidis, an ancient religious sect in the region, are still trapped on Mount Sinjar, where they are at risk of dying from starvation and dehydration. U.S. military planes airdropped food and water to the refugees this week.
Kamil Amin, spokesman for Iraq's human rights ministry, told USA Today on Friday that hundreds of Yazidi women under the age of 35 have been kidnapped by IS fighters. Many are being held in schools in the city of Mosul.
Back in Washington, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said no ground troops will be sent to Iraq, echoing what Obama said Thursday night. The U.S. intends on helping Iraq officials battle the threat.
Earnest added that at this time "the president has not laid out a specific end date" to the air strikes, the newspaper reported.
