US-led task force launches 20 air strikes in continued attacks on Isis

US-led coalition forces have launched 11 air strikes in Iraq and nine in Syria since early on Friday, the Combined Joint Task Force said on Saturday.

The strikes targeted Islamic State (Isis) fighters and positions in both countries and were part of long-running air campaigns against the militants, who have conquered large areas of territory since last summer. Strikes began in Iraq on 8 August and in Syria, which is racked by civil war, on 23 September.

Four of the strikes in Syria since Friday hit Isis positions near the border town of Kobani, the task force said in a statement. In Iraq, the coalition launched four strikes near the town of al-Asad and three near Mosul, an Isis occupied town which is the target of a reported impending offensive by Iraqi forces.

In Iraq on Saturday, suicide bomb attacks on three targets north of Baghdad killed at least 27 people, authorities said. 

This week, an Isis fighter who appeared in a number of videos of beheadings of western hostages was named as Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwait-born Briton. In New York, three men – two Uzbeks and a Kazakh - were arrested and charged with attempting to join Isis.