UN Security Council urges helping Iraq forces

The UN Security Council on Friday urged the world to step up support for the Iraqi government and its security forces in their intensifying battle against Islamic State (IS) fighters. 

In a unanimous statement, the 15-member council condemned the "vicious string of suicide, vehicle-borne and other attacks" in Baghdad and surrounding provinces carried out by IS. 

The council "urged the international community, in accordance with international law, to further strengthen and expand support for the government of Iraq, including Iraqi security forces, in the fight against ISIL and associated armed groups," it said, using an alternative name for IS.

US-led warplanes pummelled IS fighters in Syria Friday as Iraqi forces fought the militants west of Baghdad.

Iraqi government forces launched an offensive Friday north of Tikrit, one of a series of mainly Sunni Arab towns north and west of Baghdad that IS seized in June.

Iraqi troops have been struggling to retake and hold ground, despite the coalition air strikes.

The council emphasized the need "to combat by all means" the threat posed by IS, which it has labelled a terrorist group.

Despite a string of car bombs in the Iraqi capital, the US military said Baghdad was not under "imminent threat" from IS.

"There are not masses of formations of (IS) forces outside of Baghdad about to come in," spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said.

The Britain-based Observatory claimed that IS fighters were now being trained to fly three jet fighters, captured from the Syrian military, by former Iraqi officers who had served under Saddam Hussein.

The US commander overseeing the air war hailed "encouraging" signs in the defence of Kobane, but said the Syrian town on the Turkish border could still fall to IS and insisted that Iraq was the coalition's top focus.

"Iraq is our main effort and it has to be, and the things that we're doing right now in Syria are being done primarily to shape the conditions in Iraq," said General Lloyd Austin.

Six US-led coalition air strikes hit IS positions in the east of Kobane Friday, taking advantage of new coordination with the town's Kurdish fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Kobane district chief Anwar Muslim said US-led strikes had destroyed many IS vehicles and artillery pieces.

As fighting against IS raged on several fronts, Al-Qaeda's Yemen-based franchise urged Muslims worldwide to support the IS group in Syria and Iraq.