US-led warplanes carried out 17 air strikes against Islamic State jihadists in Tikrit overnight in the first wave of coalition bombing raids in support of an Iraqi government offensive to recapture the town, the military said on Thursday.
US and allied fighter jets, bombers and drones struck a building, two bridges, three checkpoints, two "staging areas," berms, an IS "roadblock" and an IS command facility, the US military command in charge of the air campaign said in a statement.
"The ongoing Iraqi and Coalition air strikes are setting the conditions for offensive action to be conducted by Iraqi forces currently surrounding Tikrit," Lieutenant General James Terry, commander of the coalition war effort, said in a statement.
"Iraqi Security Forces supported by the Coalition will continue to gain territory from Daesh," said Terry, using the Arabic acronym for the IS group.
Pentagon officials said the air strikes would continue in Tikrit, and France said it had joined in the bombing raids.
The United States announced on Wednesday it had launched air strikes to back up Iraqi security forces whose bid to retake Tikrit has stalled over the past week.
The Iraqi government made a belated request for US air power after having relied initially only on Iranian advice and assistance, which had raised concerns in Washington about the role of its longtime adversary.
A US official told AFP on Wednesday that President Barack Obama approved the Tikrit air raids on the condition that Iraqi government forces be given a larger role in the assault, instead of Iranian-backed Shiite militias.
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