Tribal Elders Blamed For IS Militant Advances

By Stuart Ramsay, Sky News Chief Correspondent

Sirens wailing, lights flashing, the truck carrying six armed paramilitaries and a roof gunner from the Kurdish state security branch, Asayish, guided us into a notorious Arab neighbourhood in downtown Kirkuk.

It's from these virtual ghettos that the sporadic car bomb attacks in Kurdistan are planned and built.

Our guards are themselves a target and throughout our visit were jumpy and unhappy. I was assigned one of their number, a huge man armed to the teeth, for the whole time. He never left my side.

A military convoy drives towards Kirkuk, to reinforce peshmerga troops

The rest of the security detail were deployed on the streets and alleyways. We were, they said, both a kidnap and bomb risk.

It felt a bit like over kill to be frank; but I didn't actually have a choice.

Outside a school building I could see a few children playing in the street and a sort of greeting party forming up.

We were meeting displaced people, Sunni Arabs who have left Iraq proper to find sanctuary in Kurdistan.

Our security didn't know them and feared fundamentalists amongst their ranks.

Kirkuk has been the scene of several bombings in recent months

Armed men walking into the temporary homes of Arab families, their children and their wives and daughters and their space, violated by our arrival.

I could sense the tension and approached the most senior looking guy and extended my hand and made the traditional greetings in Arabic.

Within minutes I was surrounded by a group of their leaders. A friendly, scared and ultimately grateful group of men.

They crossed here to escape the bombing and fighting in their towns; to avoid Islamic State for sure, but also to escape the wrath of blood thirsty Shia militia.

This microcosm of Iraq speaks volumes.

Map shows Kirkuk in relation to other Iraqi cities

They do not want some looney form of IS Islam. They don't want fighting. They want a fair share of Iraq, a government that represents them, an army that protects them.

IS has survived because they have offered a protection from the Baghdad government and are offering a society where they will be allowed to be Sunni without fear of attack.

These people are the ones who will decide the future of IS. One of the men asked to speak to me away from the group.

"I am Sunni. I agree with my friends here. But IS is being allowed to do all this by our tribal elders. The elders are behind everything. Tell your governments you have to speak to them," he said.

As airstrikes gain momentum and Britain decides to join in, I asked the group what they thought of it all.

Displaced Sunni Arabs are sceptical more airstrikes will help the conflict

Quite sceptical would best sum up their response.

They fear who would replace IS and they doubt they can be driven out from the air.

"What do your countries want us to do?," one of them asked.

"Will you arm us to fight IS? Will you support us in the future? Our government is a joke we trust none of them.

"They may have changed the faces and made a new government, but they are the same people. Nothing is changing."

IS and peshmerga troops are metres away from each other near Kirkuk

The basic strategy of the West is to attack IS but to try and urge the new government to be inclusive of all the religious and ethnic groups that make up this country.

That will take a very long time of course and that is really the problem because as every day passes IS are getting more bedded in.

It has only been a few months but their command and control of areas is staggering.

The most striking part of this incredibly informative hour or so was their total "getting" of Kurdistan.

An ethnic group of majority Sunnis who see Nation above Religion; in much the same way as the UK does.

"This country protects its people and they are protecting us. They have no need to but they are. That is what we want. A country that looks after all of us," one of them said.

Not an unreasonable demand. But right now it's just a hope.

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Oklahoma Beheading: Fired Man's Knife Rampage

A man who had just been sacked at an Oklahoma food plant decapitated one female worker and stabbed another before he was shot and wounded by the boss.

Police said Alton Nolen, 30, was "angry" after losing his job when he launched into a knife rampage at Vaughan Foods in Moore on Thursday afternoon.

Mark Vaughn, chief operating officer of the business and also a reserve police officer, is being hailed as a hero after he shot Nolen while the suspect was stabbing a second woman.

The scene outside the plant in the aftermath of the attack

Authorities say it appears Nolen targeted the workers at random.

The attack began at about 4pm when he went to the car park and drove his vehicle to the front of the warehouse where he hit another car. 

Nolen then walked through the main entrance and began his rampage.

Police spokesman Jeremy Lewis told a press conference that Nolen's colleagues had said "he recently started trying to convert several employees to the Muslim religion".

However, it is not clear if his beliefs had any link to the attack. The FBI is also investigating the incident.

The first victim has been identified as 54-year-old Colleen Hufford.

Mr Lewis told Friday morning's press conference: "He did kill Colleen and he did sever her head."

Nolen and the second victim, 43-year-old Traci Johnson, are both in a stable condition in hospital, said police.

Mr Lewis praised Mr Vaughn's swift action.

"It could have gotten a lot worse," he said. "This guy (Nolen) was definitely not going to stop."

There were said to be several hundred employees inside the warehouse at the time of the attack.

According to the state department of corrections, Nolen was convicted in 2011 of marijuana possession, intent to distribute cocaine, escape from detention and assault on a police officer.

Vaughan Foods spokeswoman Danielle Katcher said everyone at the company was "shocked and deeply saddened" by Thursday's attack.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of the team member we lost and all those affected," said her statement.

Employees would be offered counselling, she added.

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FBI: Islamic State's Jihadi John Identified

FBI Director James Comey says the bureau has identified the Islamic State (IS) militant known as Jihadi John.

But Mr Comey told reporters at the agency's headquarters in Washington DC he would not reveal the man's name or nationality.

The FBI director would not name the militant known as Jihadi John

He reportedly said: "I believe that we have identified him, I'm not going to tell you who I believe it is."

Asked if he would prioritise capturing the killer, he said: "We will do, and expend the effort that I think the American people would want us to and expect us to."

The Home Office said it did not comment on security operations.

Jihadi John appears to be left-handed and of average height and build

The jihadist group shocked the world when it released videos of a man with a southern English accent apparently killing two American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and a British aid worker, David Haines.

In the three clips, the suspect holds a long knife and appears to begin hacking at the captives' necks. He shows only his eyes in all three videos.

The British Ambassador to the US, Sir Peter Westmacott, said last month the UK was close to identifying the suspect.

Sophisticated technology, including voice-recognition software, was being used to track him down, he added.

(L-R) James Foley, Steven Sotloff and David Haines

From the footage, the militant appears to be left-handed and of average height and build.

He was said to lead a small group of British jihadis who became known by hostages as The Beatles.

The FBI director also said around a dozen Americans are believed to be currently fighting with extremist groups in Syria.

He said more than 100 Americans in total had either managed to reach Syria, had been arrested while trying to travel there, or had gone and returned.

In his briefing, Mr Comey said a shadowy al Qaeda cell in Syria known as the Khorasan Group may still be plotting attacks on the West.

He said there was no sign yet that US airstrikes this week, which American officials believe killed Khorasan's leader, had disrupted the group's plans.

It comes as the US continued to carry out airstrikes on targets in Syria - and after officials dismissed reports that IS was planning to attack US and French subway systems.

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Iraq Front Line 'Trenches' Like World War One

By Stuart Ramsay, Sky News Chief Correspondent

One can see the front line between the peshmerga and the Islamic State fighters from quite a distance on the outskirts of Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

Their flags flutter in the wind. But they are so close now that from some angles you can't tell which is in front of the other.

This is the most dangerous and close front line in this conflict.

They are metres apart. Peshmerga soldiers gingerly peer over the earth wall that separates the two sides. There are snipers everywhere.

Absolutely nobody out here drops their guard for a second. On the wall, that single second lapse in concentration could cost you your life.

These battle lines are reminiscent of World War One. Two armies dug into these huge berms, trenches really, and a watery no man's land, a canal, dividing them.

Ramsay with peshmerga forces

The peshmerga are determined but lightly armed. The IS fighters are determined and heavily armed. But this is now a static front.

The pesh, as they are known, want to attack but know that across the canal IS aren't just well dug in but have the support, or at least tacit support, of the local population.

So this is about holding the line. The Kurds are hoping that will change.

In the clear blue skies above there is an occasional glint of light from the fuselage of jets patrolling and looking for IS targets.

We could hear the jet engines change tone as they began their descent into a bombing raid.

US jets have been involved in raids on IS in Iraq

From maybe a mile away we heard the explosion of a bomb drop and shortly afterwards the smoke rose into the air.

This has just started in this area but is happening across the north of Iraq. The coalition forces are attacking.

It has brought quiet to the front line. IS can't move when the jets are up. When it goes quiet they try to bring their vehicles forward.

The front lines are so close they hope the jets won't attack for fear of killing the Pesh.

In truth there have been a number of friendly fire incidents already and they are likely to continue if the US-led coalition ramps up the target selection and carries out a lot more bombing.

It's inevitable and the peshmerga understand that.

Islamic State fighters are heavily armed and determined

"We are fighting for the whole world, you have to understand that, we are fighting for everyone against these barbarians," Brigadier Bapir Sheik Wassany told me, looking across into IS territory.

"If you attack from the air and give us better weapons we will smash them. We don't want soldiers, we want weapons and airstrikes."

The pesh do have a tendency to get a bit carried away with the rhetoric.

But as a whole the Kurd military, made up of Special Forces and the Counter Terrorism Group, along with the peshmerga and a rather difficult alliance with Shia militia, can be pretty effective if they have the weapons and the all-important "Air" - the coalition's jets.

The reality is, though, that war cannot be won from the air.

In fact this war on IS probably can't be won without the actual support of the Sunni population where IS have made their home in Iraq and Syria.

Iraqi peshmerga troops load rockets into a launcher in northern Iraq

In a refugee camp in an Arab district of Kirkuk I chatted for an hour or so with Sunni refugees.

They have escaped their towns to avoid the bombing and to a degree IS, but mainly to escape the Shia militias; finding sanctuary in Kurdistan.

"We are protected by a military with one goal, to look after its people; answering to a government with one goal, to look after its people," their leader told me.

"If the airstrikes are 100% accurate on IS then we will go home. But if the Shia militia replace IS it will be worse," he said.

These people need a government that represents them and an army that they trust. If that happens then IS are finished here.

But it doesn't look likely for now and IS haven't gone anywhere.

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Freed Abu Qatada 'Will Not Be Returning To UK'

Timeline: Qatada Legal Battle

Updated: 10:35am UK, Wednesday 24 September 2014

Abu Qatada challenged and ultimately thwarted every attempt by the Government to detain and deport him for many years.

Here is a timeline of the legal battle.

1993: Abu Qatada claims asylum when he arrives in Britain on a forged passport.

1994: Allowed to stay in Britain.

1995: Issues a "fatwa" justifying the killing of converts from Islam, their wives and children in Algeria.

1998: Applies for indefinite leave to remain in Britain.

1999: April - Convicted in his absence on terror charges in Jordan and sentenced to life imprisonment.

October - Speaks in London advocating the killing of Jews and praising attacks on Americans.

2001: February - Arrested by anti-terror police over involvement in a plot to bomb Strasbourg Christmas market. Officers find him with £170,000 in cash, including £805 in an envelope marked "For the mujahedin in Chechnya".

December - Becomes one of Britain's most wanted men after going on the run from his home in west London.

2002: Arrested by police in a council house in south London and detained in Belmarsh high-security jail.

2005: Freed on conditional bail and placed on a control order but arrested again in August under immigration rules as the Government seeks to deport him to Jordan.

2008: April: Court of Appeal rules deportation would breach his human rights because evidence used against him in Jordan might have been obtained through torture.

May - Granted bail by the immigration tribunal but told he must stay inside for 22 hours a day.

June - Released from Long Lartin jail in Worcestershire and moves into a four-bedroom house in west London.

November - He is rearrested after the Home Office tells an immigration hearing of fears he plans to abscond.

December - Qatada's bail is revoked by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) after hearing secret evidence that the risk of him absconding has increased.

2009: Five Law Lords unanimously back the Government's policy of removing terror suspects from Britain on the basis of assurances from foreign governments and it is ruled he can be deported to Jordan to face a retrial on the terror charges.

He is awarded 2,800 euro (£2,500) compensation by the European Court of Human Rights after the judges rule that his detention without trial in the UK under anti-terrorism powers breached his human rights.

2012: January - European judges rule he can be sent to Jordan with diplomatic assurances but not while "there remains a real risk that evidence obtained by torture will be used against him".

February - He is released on strict bail conditions.

April - Rearrested as the Government prepares to deport him after Jordan gives assurances it will "bend over backwards" to ensure he receives a fair trial.

March - Qatada's legal team loses its bid to have the case heard by the Europe's human rights judges, clearing the way for deportation proceedings to continue.

May and August - Siac rejects Qatada's applications for bail.

October - Siac holds appeal hearing.

November - His appeal is granted and he is granted bail.

December - Qatada is moved to a larger residence in the greater London area.

2013: March 9 - It emerges Qatada has been arrested for allegedly breaching his bail conditions. He is ordered to stay in custody and sent to Belmarsh.

March 21 - Police reveal the cleric is being investigated over extremist material.

March 27 - Home Secretary Theresa May loses her appeal over Siac's decision to allow Qatada to stay in the UK. The Home Office vows to appeal.

April 17 - The Home Office formally announces that it is seeking leave from the Court of Appeal to take the case to the Supreme Court.

April 22 - The Court of Appeal refuses permission to go to the Supreme Court, forcing the Home Office to appeal directly to the highest court in the land.

April 23 - Theresa May tells MPs she has signed a new treaty with Jordan that should pave the way to deportation, but warns it might take "many months".

May 10 - Qatada's barrister says he will go back to Jordan voluntarily if the treaty on the use of evidence obtained by torture, guaranteeing he will not be tortured, is ratified by the Jordanian parliament.

May 20 - Qatada is refused bail by the Special Immigrations Appeals Commission after "jihadist material" is found on a computer memory stick.

July 2 - The new treaty between Jordan and Britain is fully ratified, sparking claims Qatada could be on a plane within days.

July 3 - A Jordanian government official tells AFP the cleric is due back on Sunday.

July 7 - Flown from RAF Northolt to Jordan

December 10: Pleads not guilty to terrorism charges at a state security court in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

2014: June 26 - Acquitted of conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism over 1998 bomb plots allegations.

September 24 - Acquitted over plot to target Western tourists over the New Year in Jordan in 2000.

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What Now For Abu Qatada After Aquittal?

By Tom Rayner, Middle East Reporter, in Amman, Jordan

Only a man sure he was on the verge of freedom would smile walking into a cage, flanked by armed police in a high-security court.

Abu Qatada exuded confidence from behind the bars of the dock.

It took only a few minutes for the judge to read out the verdict.

He said there was simply not enough evidence for a conviction on involvement in a plan to attack Israeli and western tourists during millennium celebrations.

Having been cleared in June of another charge related to alleged bomb plot in 1998, the man once dubbed "Bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe" was cleared of all the accusations he had been convicted of in absentia 14 years ago.

Abu Qatada was pictured smiling in a cage at the court in Amman, Jordan

The Home Office was quick to say that Abu Qatada would not be able to return to Britain, regardless of the verdict, but it's not entirely clear that he would want to, even if he was able to.

Qatada's battle against extradition was always grounded on the claim that he would not receive a fair trial in Jordan.

His lawyers insisted the testimonies that formed the evidence against him were obtained under torture.

The agreement that no such testimonies would be used in his retrial was key to his deportation last year.

Now the trial has taken place and his acquittal secured, there are many reasons why Abu Qatada may be content to stay in Jordan.

Key among them is the rise of Islamic State - a crisis that Abu Qatada may feel he can influence most effectively from the region.

As he left court, journalists mobbed him.

He was flanked by journalists as an emotional reunion took place

Desperate to get his response not just to his acquittal, but to get his view on the airstrikes against IS – the group whose behaviour he has already denounced as counter to Islam.

It's clear, perhaps because of his notoriety, Abu Qatada remains one of the world's most influential jihadist thinkers.

"I don't think Abu Qatada is involved in terrorist organisations, otherwise he'd have been found guilty," said his friend, Jordanian analyst of jihadi movements, Marwan Shehadeh.

"But he's one of the main mentors for jihadist groups – and he's a Sheikh, a scholar of sharia law, and so he gives fatwas in relation to jihad."

Shehadeh believes the rise of Islamic State has divided global jihadist thinking, and added: "There are two wings – one is represented by (Jordanian jihadist Abu Musab al) Zarqawi, which is now Islamic State, the other is the views of Bin Laden, which is al Qaeda.

"I think Abu Qatada is more supportive of al Qaeda than IS. He judges the actions by looking to sharia law, and makes fatwas based on that."

His family celebrated after being acquitted of all charges

But Shehadeh also warned regional governments not to count on Qatada's condemnation of Islamic State, neutering the potential for a backlash in their own countries.

He said: "Of course he is against the alliance – the campaign to target IS, al Nusra and other factions ... I think soon he will release statement against the alliance and the airstrikes."

Many are already watching how Abu Qatada uses his new freedom.

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Israeli Missile Shoots Down Syrian Fighter Jet

Israel says it has shot down a Syrian fighter jet over its airspace - the first such incident in more than 30 years.

The aircraft was hit by a Patriot missile while trying to "infiltrate" the Quneitra area of the Golan Heights, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said.

An Israeli defence source identified the jet as a Russian-built Sukhoi Su-24 fighter plane. Previously it was reported to have been a MiG-21 aircraft.

The aircraft was hit by a Patriot missile

It flew 800 metres into Israeli airspace and tried to return to Syria after the Patriot missile was fired, he said.

The crew managed to abandon the plane in time and landed in Syrian territory, he added.

The Golan area, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war, has seen clashes between the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and Syrian President Bashar al Assad's forces in recent weeks.

Syrian state TV confirmed Israel had shot down one of its planes, and described it as an act of aggression.

A file picture of the type of jet that was shot down

It quoted a military source saying the attack came "in the framework of (Israel's) support for the terrorist (Islamic State) and the Nusra Front".

Israel's Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said the aircraft had crossed into Israel in a "threatening way" and vowed to retaliate to any similar incidents in the future.

"We will not allow (any) element, whether it is a terror group or a state, to threaten our security and breach our sovereignty," he said.

"We are committed first and foremost to ensure the security of the Israel's citizens and we will use all means at our disposal to do so."

It came hours after the US and five Arab countries began airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria for the first time.

The raids were carried out using fighter jets, bombers, drones, and Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from US ships in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar were involved in the raids, a US official said, although their exact roles were unclear.

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Obama: This Is Not America's Fight Alone

Al Qaeda Veterans Targeted In Syria Airstrikes

Updated: 3:05pm UK, Tuesday 23 September 2014

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor

Hitherto obscure, they fell firmly into American gun sight in the first salvoes of the attack by coalition forces inside Syria.

They are the Khorasan Group - al Qaeda veterans allegedly planning attacks against the West.

Led by Musin al Fadhli, a 33-year-old Kuwaiti who was once so close to Osama bin Laden that he knew about the 9/11 attacks before they happened, the group subscribes to a ferociously anti-Western agenda.

Until a year or so ago, al Fadhli and his deputy Muhsin al Harbi were based in Iran.

They had been in and out of Iranian custody, occasionally subjected to house arrest - but were vital links to funding and recruitment of al Qaeda's operations, especially in Iraq.

They are, according to intelligence sources, now based in Syria. They have joined up with, or added themselves to, the al Nusra Front.

But while this al Qaeda franchise in Syria has focused on fighting the regime of Bashar al Assad and has been locked in combat with Islamic State, Khorasan have focused on anti-Western operations.

"They have been establishing close links to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula - in Yemen - where there are some supremely accomplished bomb makers," said one informed intelligence source.

The Pentagon said the airstrikes against Khorasan were because of active intelligence that their agents were plotting an attack in the West.

The UKand several other states have upped the threat level to "severe" in the last few weeks - which indicated there was intelligence that a terrorist attack was 'likely'.

The Khorasan Group, so-called because they draw their members from early Islamic regions that spread into parts of Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan which was known as Khorasan, is an al Qaeda veteran organisation in comparison with the competing Islamist franchise, Islamic State.

It has been losing ground, fame and recruits to IS and arguably needs to show its strength through a 'spectacular' attack on the West to restore its standing in the face of IS's media campaign and stunning territorial gains.

Late last year, an intelligence agency assessment of what has become the Khorasan Group said that al Fadhli "co-ordinates between the al Qaeda leadership and Jabhat al Nusra, which has been among the more effective fighting forces against Assad".

It said: "Al Fadhli now plays a key role in advancing plans for attacks by al Qaeda from Syria, in accordance with Iran's interests."

That last phrase is significant. How could operations by an al Qaeda-related group, a Sunni movement, serve the interests of Iran, a Shia dominated theocracy?

The answer lies in the old cliche that in the Middle East especially, "my enemy's enemy is my friend".

But it also may indicate that Iranian co-operation in allowing or encouraging al Fadhli to move to Syria was a means to boost the Assad regime's case that it was a bulwark against global Islamic terror.

Damascus has argued since the start of the uprising against Mr Assad's rule that it has been fighting "terrorists".

Whatever the truth of the Iranian connection to the Khorasan Group, Pentagon targeting officers can be expected to pursue the old school al Qaeda operatives - they will want to snuff out attempts to revive the brand by spilling blood in the Homeland.

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Islamist Group Threatens French Hostage In Video

A kidnapped Frenchman has appeared in a video, saying he is being held by an Algeria-based Islamic State splinter group.

In the footage, a spokesman for the group - which calls itself Jund al-Khilafah or Caliphate Soldiers - threatens to kill the man unless France ends its military operation against Islamic State (IS) in Iraq.

France's Foreign Ministry has confirmed the video is genuine, identifying the hostage as Herve Gourdel, 55.

In a statement it said Mr Gourdel was kidnapped on Sunday in the eastern Algerian region of Tizi Ouzou, where he was on holiday.

It said: "The threats made by this terrorist group show once again the extreme cruelty of Daech (Islamic State) and those who say they are affiliated to it."

The mountainous Tizi Ouzou region is a known hideout for al Qaeda

The video shows Mr Gourdel reading a message to camera, flanked by two armed men. 

He says: "I am in the hands of Jund al-Khilifa, an Algerian armed group. 

"This armed group is asking me to ask you (President Francois Hollande) to not intervene in Iraq.

"They are holding me as a hostage and I ask you Mr President to do everything to get me out of this bad situation and I thank you."

Jund al-Khilafah is thought to be an al Qaeda splinter group which has broken away in recent weeks and pledged allegiance to IS.

The mountainous Tizi Ouzou region is a known hideout for North Africa's al Qaeda branch, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

The abduction is reported to have taken place hours after IS threatened attacks on French citizens. The threat came after Paris launched airstrikes against them on Friday.

IS has threatened to target France, which has launched airstrikes in Iraq

An IS spokesman called on followers to kill Europeans and Americans, and "especially the spiteful and filthy French."

Responding to the video, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said France would not be swayed by the militants' threats.

"We will do everything we can to liberate hostages," he told reporters.

"But a terrorist group cannot change France's position."

Mr Hollande's office, meanwhile, released a statement saying the president had spoken with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal by phone. It said the two had agreed "total cooperation" in finding the man.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an Algerian security official said the 55-year-old man had been hiking with two friends when all three were taken. 

The Associated Press news agency quoted the official as saying the victim's companions were later released and alerted the authorities.

IS has taken over large swathes of Iraq and Syria in recent months, where it has declared an Islamic state, or caliphate.

The group has released videos showing the murders of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid worker David Haines. 

It has warned that fellow British captive Alan Henning will be next if Prime Minister David Cameron continues to support the fight against the jihadist organisation.

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US Launches First Attacks Against IS In Syria

The US and five Arab countries have begun airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria.

The strikes were launched using fighters, bombers and Tomahawk missiles launched from US ships in the northern Persian Gulf and the Red Sea and form part of the expanded military campaign authorised by Barack Obama two weeks ago.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Bahrain were involved in the airstrikes a US official said, although their exact roles were unclear.

Islamic State have made rapid gains in Iraq and Syria

Damascus says Washington informed Syria's UN envoy before launching the strikes against targets which included Islamic State group headquarters in Raqqa in eastern Syria, weapons storage facilities and checkpoints.

Military officials say militants' command and control centres, re-supply facilities, training camps and other key logistical sites are also being targeted.

The strikes follow a summit of world leaders in Paris where agreement was reached to form a broad coalition to counter the advance of Islamic State in Syria and to provide military aid to Iraq to fight the extremist network.

Military leaders have said about two-thirds of the estimated 31,000 Islamic State militants are in Syria.

A second video of UK hostage John Cantlie has been released by IS

Sky's US correspondent Dominic Waghorn said: "After years of watching from the sidelines, America is now involved in the country's bloody civil war.

"In the sovereign airspace and territory of another nation, these strikes are particularly surprising.

"This military coalition is very important for America who do not want to be seen as going ahead on their own."

International efforts to combat the group, who have grabbed swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq, have taken on an added urgency after the beheading of two US journalists and British aid worker David Haines, and the threat to kill UK hostage Alan Henning.

The US action comes four days after France destroyed an Islamic State logistics depot in its first airstrikes against the militant group in Iraq.

The group is still holding British hostage Alan Henning

President Francois Hollande said Rafale fighter jets, accompanied by support planes, "entirely destroyed" the depot in the north of the country.

Meanwhile, a second propaganda video of British hostage John Cantlie has been released by Islamic State.

Speaking to the camera and speaking under duress, Mr Cantlie addresses the coalition of states targeting the group, though it is not clear when the video was filmed.

"Everyone now is getting involved," he said. "Denmark and France have sent airpower, Britain is arming the Kurds, Iran is sending troops and contractors are being sought in Iraq.

An IS splinter group has threated to kill French tourist Herve Gourdel

"Even Bashah al Assad, until earlier this year the most hated and villianised tyrant in the Arab world, is being approached for permission to go into Syria.

"It's all quite a circus. Not since Vietnam have we witnessed a potential mess in the making."

Earlier, a kidnapped Frenchman appeared in a video posted online, saying he is being held by an Algeria-based Islamic State splinter group.

In the footage, a spokesman for the group - which calls itself Jund al-Khilafah, or Caliphate Soldiers - threatens to kill 55-year-old Herve Gourde unless France ends its military operation against Islamic State in Iraq.

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Ebola Lockdown: 92 Bodies Found In Sierra Leone

Ninety-two bodies and at least 56 new infections have been discovered in Sierra Leone during a nationwide ebola lockdown.

The three-day measure came into effect on Friday to try to stem the worst ebola epidemic on record.

The country's six million residents were ordered to stay indoors as volunteers circulated to educate people about the outbreak and isolate the sick.

Some 123 people contacted authorities during the lockdown, believing they might be infected.

Of these, 56 tested positive for ebola, 31 tested negative and 36 were still awaiting their results, officials said.

Residents largely complied with the plan, and the streets remained mostly deserted, except for ambulances and police vehicles.

On Sunday evening, even before the lockdown officially ended at midnight, residents in some parts of the capital Freetown emerged onto the streets to celebrate.

Police in the western part of the city said they had made a number of arrests in an attempt to enforce the lockdown in its final hours.

A health worker helps a woman to an ambulance in Monrovia, Liberia

Earlier in the day, Stephen Gaojia, head of the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC)  that leads the national Ebola response, said a few areas had still not been reached by the government's teams.

"Even though the exercise has been a huge success so far, it has not been concluded in some metropolitan cities like Freetown and Kenema," he said.

The EOC announced last night that it would not extend the campaign in order to reach the remaining households as it had earlier said might be required.

"It cannot be extended because its objectives have largely been met," Mr Gaojia said.

British officials recently announced they were setting up a treatment centre in Kerrytown following a direct request for help to combat the outbreak.

The 62-bed facility will treat victims of the disease, including local and international health workers and volunteers.

The West Africa outbreak has so far killed more than 2,600 people and infected around twice as many since March.

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Blair: Airpower Alone Not Enough To Defeat IS

Tony Blair has said Britain should not rule out sending forces into Syria and Iraq to counter the threat posed by Islamic State.

In a 6,500-word essay the former Prime Minister said that while no desire existed for ground engagement in the region, airpower alone would not be enough to defeat the group.

"We have to fight groups like ISIS," he said. "There can be an abundance of diplomacy, all necessary relief of humanitarian suffering, every conceivable statement of condemnation which we can muster.

Tony Blair: 'The enemy we're fighting is fanatical'

"But unless they're accompanied by physical combat, we will mitigate the problem but not overcome it.

"Airpower is a major component of this to be sure, especially with the new weapons available to us. But - and this is the hard truth - airpower alone will not suffice.

"If possible, others closer to the field of battle, with a more immediate interest, can be given the weapons and the training to carry the fight.

"I accept fully there is no appetite for ground engagement in the West. But we should not rule it out in the future if it is absolutely necessary."

France and the US have launched airstrikes on IS positions

The militant Islamist group has made rapid territorial gains across the region and released graphic videos depicting the beheading of two US journalists and British aid worker David Haines.

Mr Blair warned that any solution to the threat posed by the extremist group would involve casualties. 

"Because the enemy we're fighting is fanatical, because they are prepared both to kill and to die, there is no solution that doesn't involve force applied with a willingness to take casualties in carrying the fight through to the end," he said.

The US and France have already launched airstrikes against IS targets, and the UK has not ruled out joining the bombing campaign.

He said the lessons learned from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq had improved Western forces' "capacity and capability" to respond to the threat of IS and similar groups.

Former taxi driver Alan Henning is being held by the group

"To those who say that after the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq we have no stomach for such a commitment, I would reply the difficulties we encountered there are in part intrinsic to the nature of the battle being waged," he said.

"And our capacity and capability to wage the battle effectively are second to none in part because of our experience there."

Former taxi driver Alan Henning, from Manchester, is currently being held hostage by IS after he was kidnapped in the Syrian town of al Dana while volunteering with a humanitarian aid convoy.

The group has threatened to kill Mr Henning and warned Britain and American not to get involved in another Middle East war.

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Freed Islamic State Hostages Return To Turkey

Dozens of Turkish hostages seized by Islamic State militants in Iraq have been freed in what Turkey's president described as a secret rescue operation.

The 49 hostages - including diplomatic staff, special forces soldiers and children - were taken from the Turkish consulate in Mosul in Iraq on June 11 after the city was overrun by IS fighters.

Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said they were released after a "pre-planned operation" involving the country's intelligence services.

"After intense efforts that lasted days and weeks, in the early hours, our citizens were handed over to us and we brought them back to our country," he said.

One the freed hostages is reunited with their family

The release of the hostages came as a full-length propaganda film produced by IS emerged.

It was not immediately clear what Turkey had done to secure the return of the hostages, but independent broadcaster NTV said no ransom was paid and there were no clashes with insurgents during the operation.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "I thank the Prime Minister and his colleagues for the pre-planned, carefully calculated and secretly conducted operation throughout the night.

"MIT (the Turkish intelligence agency) has followed the situation very sensitively and patiently since the beginning and, as a result, conducted a successful rescue operation."

The PM (R) kisses Turkish consul-general Ozturk Yilmaz after his release

Police formed a cordon outside the airport in the southern Turkish city of Sanliurfa as the hostages arrived in buses with curtains drawn.

The Prime Minister, who cut short an official trip to Azerbaijan to travel to Sanliurfa, hugged the hostages before boarding a plane with them to the capital, Ankara.

Mr Davutoglu did not provide further details on the circumstances of the release, but said it was carried out through "MIT's own methods".

Hostages quizzed by journalists as they got off the plane said they could not go into detail as to the nature of their ordeal, but a couple of them hinted at ill treatment and death threats.

Mr Davutoglu (L) with the freed captives in Ankara

Alptekin Esirgun told the state-run Anadolou Agency that militants held a gun to Consul General Ozturk Yilmaz's head and tried to force him to make a statement.

Mr Yilmaz thanked Turkish officials involved in his release but did not give details about their captivity or how they were freed.

He refused to take more questions, saying: "I haven't seen my family for 102 days. All I want to do is to go home with them."

Seizure of the hostages put Turkey in a difficult position as a summit of 30 countries met in Paris last week to co-ordinate their response to IS.

The hostages were taken in Mosul and returned to Sanliurfa

The nations agreed to "support the Iraqi government by any means necessary - including military assistance".

Turkey resisted joining the coalition and the United States was careful not to push Ankara too hard as it worked to free the hostages.

The hostage release comes as Turkey opened up its border to thousands of Kurds fleeing clashes with IS in neighbouring Syria.

Under tight security, the refugees, mostly women and children, crossed to the Turkish side of the border in the southeastern village of Dikmetas.

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Wanted Rwandan Militia Reluctant To Disarm

By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent

The commander of one of the Rwandan militia hiding out in the eastern Congolese mountains has told Sky News his men will not disarm without guarantees for their safety.

Colonel Bonheur - as he called himself but which is almost certainly not his real name - said his band of soldiers would be forced to continue fighting unless a political solution can be found.

Speaking from his mountain hideout, he said: "We are tired of war. We want peace. But we need the international community to step in and mediate.

"They know what they have to do and they know very well how to solve the problem. They need to pressurise Rwanda."

He said he and his men want to return to Rwanda and reform the militia as a political party.

The militia soldiers are living in straw huts in the Congolese mountains

That is unlikely to be accepted by the current President Paul Kagame, who they want to unseat.

The colonel and his unit - which he called the Tigers - are a branch of the FDLR (The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) - and are wanted by the United Nations for war crimes.

They are accused of being among those who tried to wipe out the Tutsis in Rwanda way back in 1994.

The genocide then has been the backbone of the region's woes ever since. Wars have led to an estimated four million people losing their lives over the past 20 years.

The FDLR militias have been blamed for continued mass killings and rapes inside the Congo ever since and their existence has led to the creation of an estimated 30 Congolese armed groups who are also responsible for atrocities, as all the different armed groups battle for control of the region.

Colonel Bonheur says the international community must intervene

Military action against the FDLR was threatened by the UN, but it was persuaded to hold off until December after South Africa and Tanzania - who are allied with Congo's Joseph Kabila - argued the militia should be given time to voluntarily surrender their weapons.

It is an option America does not believe the rebels will take.

The colonel said: "We urge the international community to take pity on us."

He insisted some of his men had surrendered and handed in their weapons but the remainder are fearful of giving up their guns because of reprisals from the Congolese.

Instead they have shifted on to the mountains with their families, where they shelter in straw huts, some with plastic sheeting but most without.

One woman said: "We are starving. We just eat leaves boiled in water."

Another man told us: "We are a people without a country now. We need help."

A global day of peace means little to these people.

Most were unaware of it and the colonel said disparagingly: "The Americans can sort peace here in an instant. They just don't want to."

He, like many others weary of the war in this region, believe the chaos and instability caused by it suits many who are plundering the country of its rich natural resources.

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