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Islamic State training pilots to fly fighter jets
Iraqi pilots who have joined Islamic State are training its members in Syria to fly three captured fighter jets, according to a UK-based activist group that monitors the conflict.
- IS has 3 MiG-21 planes which it captured from the Syrian military
- New Zealand urges citizens to leave Iraq
- IS threatens French, American citizens in Morocco
Aleppo: Iraqi pilots who have joined Islamic State are training its members in Syria to fly three captured fighter jets, according to a UK-based activist group that monitors the conflict.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said witnesses had seen the planes being flown around a military airport in Aleppo. Meanwhile, Iraqi forces have launched an attack on IS militants near Tikrit.The city was among the areas in Syria and Iraq seized by IS this year. Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the SOHR, said IS was using Iraqi officers who were pilots under ex-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to train fighters in Syria.
"People saw the flights, they went up many times from the airport and they are flying in the skies outside the airport and coming back," he said. Witnesses told the SOHR the planes appeared to be MiG-21 or MiG-23 models.
IS has three planes which it captured earlier from the Syrian military in Aleppo and Raqqa. It is not known how many Iraqi pilots have defected.
Separately, the Iraqi government said its troops had gained ground to the north and west of Tikrit and cut an important IS supply route. Correspondents say that past efforts by the government to regain territory in the area have ended in failure.
In Kobane, Kurdish forces, backed by US-led air strikes, are continuing to fight militants. The battle for Kobane is regarded as a major test of whether the US-led coalition's air campaign can push back IS.
The New Zealand government has urged its citizens to leave Iraq, a media report said. The New Zealand ministry of foreign affairs and trade advised kiwis not to travel to Iraq and recommended people to leave the country if they were worried about their safety, New Zealand Radio reported. A new video released by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group on the internet features three members who threaten to attack French and American citizens in Morocco.
