BAGHDAD: The Islamic State militant group that has seized large parts of Iraq and drawn the first American air strikes since the end of the occupation in 2011 has warned the United States it will attack Americans “in any place” if the raids hit its militants.
The video, which shows a photograph of an American who was beheaded during the US occupation of Iraq and victims of snipers, featured a statement which said in English “we will drown all of you in blood”.
US airstrikes in northern Iraq have helped Kurdish fighters take back some territory captured by Islamic State militants, who have threatened to march on Baghdad.
Obama urges Iraqis to unite against Islamic militants
The latest advance by the Islamic State, an al-Qaida offshoot, sent tens of thousands of members of the Yazidi ethnic minority and Christians fleeing for their lives and alarmed the Baghdad government and its Western allies.
Unlike al-Qaida, Islamic State has so far focused on seizing land in Iraq and Syria for its self-proclaimed caliphate, not spectacular attacks on Western targets.
US fighter, bomber and drone aircraft took part in the strikes on Islamic State positions near the Mosul Dam, the Pentagon said. The strikes damaged or destroyed six armed vehicles, a light armoured vehicle and other equipment.
The dam had given the militants control over power and water supplies, and any breach of the vulnerable structure would have threatened thousands of lives.
US President Barack Obama said Iraqi and Kurdish forces had retaken the dam with US help. US air strikes this month are the first in Iraq since the United States pulled out in 2011.
“This operation demonstrates that Iraqi and Kurdish forces are capable of working together in taking the fight to ISIS (Islamic State), and if they continue to do so they will have the strong support of the United States of America,” Obama told a news conference.
As fighting intensified, Islamic State militants were said to have killed dozens of Kurdish fighters and captured 170 of them, according to a Twitter site that supports the group.
The Islamists’ seizure of the Mosul hydroelectric dam in northern Iraq this month marked a stunning setback for Baghdad’s Shia-led authorities and raised fears the militants could cut electricity and water, or even blow up the shaky structure, causing huge loss of life and damage down the Tigris river valley.
“The failure of the Mosul Dam could threaten the lives of large numbers of civilians, threaten US personnel and facilities — including the US Embassy in Baghdad — and prevent the Iraqi government from providing critical services to the Iraqi populace,” a senior US administration official said in Washington.
Iraqi officials hailed what they said was a strategic victory in regaining control of the dam, and announced that the next objective would be to win back Mosul itself, the biggest city in northern Iraq which lies 40 km (25 miles) downstream.(IANS)
