Canada conducts first airstrikes on IS targets in Iraq

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Canada conducted airstrikes on Islamic State positions in Iraq for the first time on Sunday, while reports emerged that the jihadist group had executed more than 200 tribespeople in recent days.

A member of the Iraqi security forces keeps watch on the main highway near Ramadi, Anbar’s provincial capital, west of Baghdad on August 14, 2014

“Today’s strike demonstrates our government’s firm resolve to tackle the threat of terrorism and to stand with our allies against ISIL’s atrocities against innocent women, children and men,” Canadian Defense Minister Rob Nicholson said in a statement.

Canada joined the anti-IS coalition on Thursday and conducted two days of reconnaissance before sending two CF-18s to attack jihadist positions around the city of Fallujah.

The attacks followed reports that IS had slaughtered scores of people from the Albu Nimr tribe, which had taken up arms against the insurgents.

Women and children were said to be among those executed over the past 10 days in western Iraq’s Anbar province which has been largely over-run by IS.

Iraq is bracing for yet more violence in the coming days as hundreds of thousands of Shiites prepare to travel to shrines in Karbala for a major annual pilgrimage.

IS, a Sunni extremist group that has seized large parts of Iraq and Syria, is expected to target Ashura pilgrims, and 19 people died in attacks on Shiites on Sunday. /End/