U.S. Military Targets IS Near Baghdad

A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter launches mortar shells toward Zummar, controlled by Islamic State forces, near Mosul on September 15.

The U.S. military says it has bombed Islamic State (IS) targets near Baghdad, the first time the U.S. military has targeted the militants close to the Iraqi capital.

The U.S. Central Command said it conducted two air strikes on September 14 and 15 in support of Iraqi forces near Sinjar and southwest of Baghdad.

The strikes represent the wider mission authorized by President Barack Obama to go on the offensive against Islamic State.

Central Command said the strikes destroyed six Islamic State vehicles and one of the group's fighting positions that was firing on the Iraqi security forces.

The news comes as officials from some 30 countries agreed in Paris to provide Baghdad with "appropriate military aid" to combat IS.

IS now controls large parts of Iraq and Syria and could number as many as 31,500 fighters, according to CIA estimates.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP