Iraqi forces break through to besieged town of Amerli after US air strikes and aid drop - ending two-month Islamic State siege

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[h=1]Iraqi forces break through to besieged town of Amerli after US air strikes and aid drop - ending two-month Islamic State siege[/h]

• It is biggest offensive success for the Iraqi government since the jihadist group overran five provinces in June
• Breakthrough came as America carried out limited strikes outside north Iraq for the first time in their military campaign
• Aircraft delivered over 100 bundles of emergency supplies while more aid was dropped from British and French planes
• Warplanes hit three vehicles, a tank and an armed vehicle while Amerli was completely surrounded

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Iraqi forces broke through to the jihadist-besieged Shiite town of Amerli today where thousands of people have been trapped for more than two months with dwindling food and water supplies.
It is the biggest offensive success for the Iraqi government since militants led by the Sunni Islamic State jihadist group overran large areas of five provinces in June, sweeping security forces aside.
The breakthrough came as America carried out limited strikes outside north Iraq for the first time since its air campaign against the militants began more than three weeks ago, and aircraft from several countries dropped humanitarian aid to Amerli.


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Kurdish Peshmerga fighters fire a rifle towards Islamic State position during the clashes which are part of the biggest offensive by the Iraqi government since June

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An Iraqi militia fighter from Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Saraya al-Salam (Peace Brigade), fires a mortar during the heavy clashes

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Two soldiers bend down and cover their ears as a cannon is fired in Duz-Khurmatu during the biggest offensive by the Iraqi government since June

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A militiaman wears a balaclava with a skeleton design as he poses for a photo with other armed comrades

The mainly Shiite Turkmen residents of the town in Salaheddin province were running desperately short of food and water, and were in danger both because of their Shiite faith, which jihadists consider heresy, and their resistance to the militants, which has drawn harsh retribution elsewhere.
'Our forces entered Amerli and broke the siege,' Iraqi security spokesman Lieutenant General Qassem Atta said, an account confirmed by a local official and a fighter from the town.
'It is a very important success,' Atta later said on state television, adding that there was still fighting in the area.


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The operation was launched on Saturday after days of preparations in which Iraqi security forces, Shiite militiamen and Kurdish fighters deployed for the assault and Iraqi aircraft carried out strikes against militants.
The U.S. had carried out air strikes against Islamic State fighters near the town in northern Iraq and airdropped humanitarian aid to civilians trapped there, the Pentagon said.
President Barack Obama authorised the new military action, broadening U.S. operations in Iraq amid an international outcry over the threat to Amerli's mostly ethnic Turkmen population.

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A man loads a bullet into a recoilless rifle before. The breakthrough by the Iraqi government came as America carried out limited strikes outside north Iraq for the first time since its air campaign against militants began more than three weeks ago

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A soldier wearing ear defenders fires a machine gun at IS positions. Residents in the area have been trapped for more than two months

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Peshmerga fighters prepare bullets for a machine gun during heavy clashes with Islamic State militants in Duz-Khurmatu, Iraq

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An Iraqi militia fighter from Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Saraya al-Salam (Peace Brigade), stands up next to a rocket launcher holding a flag and a rifle

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A plume of smoke hovers after Kurdish troops fire a recoilless rifle during the clashes around 88 kilometres (54 miles) south of Kirkuk

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An Al-Sadr militia fighter fires a mortar towards Islamic State positions while his comrade watches and puts his hands over his ears

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A soldier turns away after a firing a mortar towards IS positions in Salaheddin province. The clashes have been welcomed by residents who have been running out of vital supplies including food and water

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A woman and children react in a military helicopter after being evacuated by Iraqi forces from Amerli, north of Baghdad



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Evacuation: A home to around 180,000 people, mostly Turkmen Shi'ites, the small town of Amerli, north of Baghdad is still holding out against repeated attacks by Islamic State fighters

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Women and children are evacuated in a military helicopter by Iraqi forces from Amerli, north of Baghdad

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Iraqi security forces and Turkmen Shiite fighters, who volunteered to join the government forces, hold a position on August 4 in Amerli, some 100 miles north of Baghdad

U.S. aircraft delivered over a hundred bundles of emergency supplies and more aid was dropped from British, French and Australian planes, officials said, signaling headway in Obama's efforts to draw allies into the fight against Islamic State.
Iraqi army and Kurdish forces closed in on Islamic State fighters in a push to break the Sunni militants' siege of Amerli, which has been surrounded by the militants for more than two months.
Armed residents of Amerli have managed to fend off attacks by Islamic State fighters, who regard the town's majority Shi'ite Turkmen population as apostates. More than 15,000 people remain trapped inside.
At the request of the government of Iraq, the United States military today airdropped humanitarian aid to the town of Amerli


'At the request of the government of Iraq, the United States military today airdropped humanitarian aid to the town of Amerli, home to thousands of Shia Turkmen who have been cut off from receiving food, water, and medical supplies for two months by ISIL,' Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said, using an alternative name for Islamic State.
'In conjunction with this airdrop, U.S. aircraft conducted coordinated air strikes against nearby ISIL terrorists in order to support this humanitarian assistance operation,' he said, adding that a key objective was to prevent a militant attack on civilians in the town.
He said the operations would be 'limited in their scope and duration' in order to protect Amerli's population.
Warplanes hit three Humvee patrol vehicles, a tank and an armed vehicle held by militants in addition to a checkpoint controlled by the group, according to the military's Central Command, which runs U.S. operations in the Middle East. 'All aircraft safely exited the area,' it said in a statement.
When Obama ordered the first air strikes and air drops in Iraq earlier this month, he justified the military operation in part to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe for thousands of ethnic Yazidis trapped by Islamic State militants on Sinjar mountain in northern Iraq.

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Islamic State militants overran most of Sunni Arab areas of Iraq after seizing the northern city of Mosul on June 10

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The town of Amerli is around 100 miles north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad

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This is the area, straddling Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State group claimed to have control of

In mid-August, he declared that the militant siege there had been broken.
Earlier on Saturday, two officers said Iraqi troops, militia and Kurdish peshmerga were advancing on Amerli from four directions.
A major in the Iraqi army, who was advancing north towards Amerli from Udhaim, said progress was slow because the militants had mined the roads. He said they were around 15 km (9 miles) from the town, while those approaching from the north were just 3 km away.
The major said he had counted the corpses of more than 40 militants killed in Iraqi air strikes on the road between Udhaim and the village of Injana.
Also on Saturday, the Pentagon said U.S. warplanes and armed drones had carried out five air strikes on Islamic State fighters near Iraq's largest dam, the latest in a series of attacks in support of Iraqi and Kurdish forces.
The strikes destroyed an Islamic State armed vehicle, a fighting position and weapons, and damaged a building near Mosul Dam, the Pentagon said. Backed by U.S. air power, Kurdish forces recaptured the strategic facility nearly two weeks ago.
Separately on Saturday, a suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives killed at least 11 people at a checkpoint in the town of Yusifiya, 15 km (9 miles) south of Baghdad, a police officer said.
Islamic State militants overran most of Sunni Arab areas of Iraq after seizing the northern city of Mosul on June 10, and have proclaimed a caliphate straddling the border with Syria, where they also control vast swaths of territory.
The lightning offensive brought the militants within range of the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region earlier this month, prompting air strikes by the United States.
The Kurds have since been slowly regaining ground from the militants and on Saturday advanced on the northern town of Zumar.
Peshmerga spokesman Halgurd Hikmat said control over Zumar would help the Kurds retake Rabia and Sinjar, two other areas seized by Islamic State.
Violence in Iraq this year has reached levels unseen since 2006-2007, when the country was in the throes of civil war.

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