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US Identifies 350 Islamic State Targets for Airstrikes in Iraq: Reports

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US military intelligence has identified 300-350 Islamic State (IS) militant group targets in Iraq, a representative from the Iraqi Defense Ministry told the Voice of Iraq (Sawt Il-Iraq) radio station Tuesday.

BAGHDAD, September 16 (RIA Novosti) – US military intelligence has identified 300-350 Islamic State (IS) militant group targets in Iraq, a representative from the Iraqi Defense Ministry told the Voice of Iraq (Sawt Il-Iraq) radio station Tuesday.

“Since early September, American drones have flown more than 100 hours of reconnaissance flights and located Daʿesh [the Arabic acronym for IS] camps, training grounds and ammunition warehouses. In total, there are 300-350 targets in northern, western and central districts,” the source said.

According to a defense ministry official, IS militants have occupied seized government and residential buildings, agricultural infrastructure facilities, and are also hidden in remote mountainous areas and caves.

“However, Americans have problems with mapping Daʿesh compounds because the militants have been relocating every 24 hours lately,” the military representative added.

On Monday, US air forces carried out the first offensive strike at Islamic State insurgents. The attack southwest of the Iraqi capital was intended to support national security forces and marked the beginning of enhanced measures against IS militants in Iraq aimed "to degrade and ultimately destroy" IS extremists, as US President Barack Obama stated in his address last week.

Obama previously said that the United States did not intend to return its army to Iraq and would not participate in attacks on the ground. The US president did not, however, exclude the possibility of airstrikes at IS targets in Syria, which has been war-torn since 2011.

The IS militant group, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012 and started launching attacks in northern and western Iraq in June, 2014. IS militants have seized vast areas in both countries and have proclaimed an Islamic caliphate on all the territories under its control.

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