Fresh US airstrikes against IS

"At the request of the Government of Iraq, the US military today conducted coordinated airstrikes against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorists in the vicinity of the Haditha Dam in Anbar province," the US military's Central Command said in a statement.

They also said the strikes were being conducted to "prevent the terrorists from further threatening Iraqi security forces in control of the dam."

The Anbar Province dam remains in the Iraqis' control, but US officials said the offensive was an effort to beat back militants who had been trying to take over key dams across the country, including the vital Haditha complex.

Last month IS fighters were battling to capture the Haditha Dam, but Iraqi forces there, backed by local Sunni tribes, had been able to hold them off. The dam has six power generators located alongside Iraq's second-largest reservoir, and is a major source of water and electrical power.

The militant Islamist group was able to take control of the Mosul Dam in northern Iraq last month. However, US airstrikes dislodged the militants and the US has continued to use strikes to keep them at bay.

Earlier this year, the group gained control of the Fallujah Dam and used it as a weapon, flooding downriver when government forces moved in on the city. Officials fear the militants could do the same thing to the capital Baghdad.

Since early August the US has carried out 133 airstrikes in Iraq aimed at protecting US personnel and facilities, as well protecting infrastructure and aiding refugees. Sunday's airstrikes are the first to directly take aim at the militants.

The "Islamic State" group has overrun large swaths of northern Iraq and Syria and declared a cross-border Islamic caliphate there.

hc/se (AP, Reuters)