Washington: US and partner nations conducted 10 air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq since Thursday, five of them near the militant-controlled city of Mosul, the Combined Joint Task Force said.
The coalition also conducted five strikes in Syria, four of them near the border city of Kobani, where they destroyed two fighting positions and a building and hit two tactical units, it said in a statement released on Friday.
The air strikes near Mosul destroyed three fighting positions, an armored vehicle, a building and an excavator, the task force said. Three Islamic State boats were destroyed near Haditha and other strikes in Iraq hit near Kirkuk, Sinjar and Tal Afar, it added.
An Iraqi and Kurdish military force of 20,000 to 25,000 troops is being prepared to recapture Mosul from Islamic State fighters, probably in the April-May time frame, an official at the US Central Command said on Thursday.
© Thomson Reuters 2015