US air strikes kill IS leaders in Iraq

Washington: US air strikes have killed several senior Islamic State (IS) leaders in recent weeks, blunting the Sunni radical group's ability to fight Iraqi and Kurdish forces, the Pentagon said Thursday.

"I can confirm that since mid-November, targeted coalition air strikes successfully killed multiple senior and mid-level leaders within the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a statement, using the group's alternative name.

"We believe that the loss of these key leaders degrades ISIL's ability to command and control current operations against Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), including Kurdish and other local forces in Iraq," Xinhua quoted him as saying.

The success of these air strikes demonstrates the coalition's resolve in enabling the ISF to disrupt and degrade IS as they continue to regain control of their territory, he added.

Meanwhile, another Pentagon statement said that US and partner-nation military forces continued air strikes on IS targets in Syria and Iraq Thursday, using fighter and bomber aircraft during six air strikes in Syria and five air strikes in Iraq.

The attacks in Syria destroyed seven IS fighting positions and an IS building and tactical unit. In Iraq, they destroyed an IS excavator, three IS vehicle and two IS tactical unit.