Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing the violence in the
Iraqi town of Sinjar west of Mosul, take refuge at Dohuk province.
Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby
announced that U.S. military aircraft has conducted a strike on ISIS artillery being used near the city of Irbil in Iraq. There is a U.S. Consulate in that city, as well as U.S. military personnel.
The Pentagon says two U.S. fighter jets dropped bombs on Islamic militants in Iraq towing artillery outside Irbil near U.S. personnel.
Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby says two F/A-18 jets dropped 500-pound bombs on a piece of artillery and the truck towing it.
President Barack Obama authorized such airstrikes Thursday when the Islamic state militant group advanced on Irbil, in northeaster Iraq, where U.S. military trainers are stationed.
Humanitarian relief had
already been air-dropped to the Yazidi refugees who have been pushed into the mountains near Irbil, before President Obama spoke Thursday night. Military cargo planes dropped 5,300 gallons of water and 8,000 meals, and the administration says U.S. forces have more water and food at the ready.