19 people killed in bomb attacks across Baghdad as airstrikes continue

At least 14 people were killed in a car bomb blast that ripped through a busy commercial street in a southeastern neighbourhood of Baghdad, as airstrikes continued against Islamic State targets in Iraq.

The attack occurred shortly after 2:30pm GMT in the Shiite-dominated district of Baghdad al-Jadida, on a street packed with restaurants as well as clothes and jewellery shops.

A police colonel said the blast killed at least 14 and wounded 43. A medical source confirmed the toll and said several policemen were among the victims.

According to a UN tally released on Wednesday, at least 1,119 people were killed in acts of violence across Iraq in September, most of them civilians.

In the city's Uveyric neighborhood, two further bombs killed five more people and injured 21.

The bombings come as British fighter jets fired on IS militants west of Baghdad and in northwest Iraq in two rounds of air strikes Wednesday, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.

Two Royal Air Force (RAF) Tornado warplanes based in Cyprus fired four Brimstone missiles on two IS vehicles, including an armed pick-up truck, the ministry said in a statement.

"Two Tornado GR4s from RAF Akrotiri conducted an armed reconnaissance mission in support of Iraqi government forces west of Baghdad," it said.

"They were tasked to examine a location suspected of being used as an ISIL (another term for IS) command and control position. 

"At the scene they were able to identify ISIL activity and two vehicles, one of which was an armed pickup truck."

The missiles were used "to conduct a precision attack on the vehicles," it said.

Two British jets also fired on IS militants, fighting Kurdish forces.

"The aircraft pin-pointed the location from which IS fighters were directing heavy fire on the Kurdish troops and conducted a precision strike with Paveway IV guided bombs," the ministry said.

The RAF conducted its first strikes on Tuesday, bombing an artillery post and an armed truck used by IS.

At least 43 IS militants have been killed during operations in Baghdad and the western province of al-Anbar, security officials reported.

Seventeen Iraqi civilians were also killed in bomb attacks Wednesday.

Drone strikes standards not applying

The standard the US imposed to limit civilian deaths from drone strikes will not apply to military operations in Syria and Iraq, according to a US official. 

According to National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden, the standard Obama imposed would not apply to US military operations in Syria and Iraq, as it applies only to "outside areas of active hostilities." 

"That description - outside areas of active hostilities - simply does not fit what we are seeing on the ground in Iraq and Syria right now," she told Anadolu Agency, noting that military operations in Syrian and Iraq against IS are still conducted in line with "the law of armed conflict." 

That law prohibits the deliberate targeting of civilian areas and require armed forces to take precautions to prevent inadvertent civilian deaths as much as possible.

President Barack Obama set the US standard for the strikes last year during a speech at the National Defense University. "Before any strike is taken, there must be near certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured - the highest standard we can set," he said.

A Yahoo News report first noted that the White House had acknowledged that it would loosen its strike policy with respect to civilian casualties during ongoing operations in Iraq and Syria.