ISIS threatens whole region
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi yesterday said his country was at war with "terrorists" threatening the region and intent on dividing Muslims, as he met top officials in key ally Iran.
Abadi, from Iraq's Shia majority, met with President Hassan Rohani and Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri during the one-day visit.
Before the visit Abadi ruled out a foreign troop intervention against ISIS and appeared to impose limits on Iran's participation also, saying in the holy Shia city of Najaf on Monday that "no regional power will fight here."
Meanwhile, Kurdish fighters in the battleground Syrian town of Kobane weathered another onslaught by ISIS militants yesterday.
Fighting continued in Kobane but appeared to have lessened after a fierce attack by ISIS fighters, including suicide bombers, late on Monday, witnesses and monitors said.
Kobane has become a crucial symbolic battleground in the war against ISIS, which is fighting to extend areas under its control in Iraq and Syria where it has declared an Islamic "caliphate".
Ankara announced on Monday that it would help Kurdish forces from Iraq to relieve Kobane's beleaguered defenders, in a major shift of policy that was swiftly welcomed by Washington.
Menawhile, senior Whitehall sources have disclosed that armed Reaper drones would be operating in Syria, initially for surveillance, but also in an attack capacity with Hellfire missiles if authorisation is given.
In another development, a series of bombs targeting restaurants across Baghdad killed at least 21 people yesterday, police and medics said. Since last week, the Iraqi capital has seen a rise in the number of bomb attacks, several of which have been claimed by IS.
In Pakistan, Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid has been sacked after pledging allegiance to ISIS.
It emerged last week that Shahidullah Shahid and five other Pakistan Taliban (TTP) commanders had defected to IS which controls parts of Iraq and Syria.
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