17 civilians killed in US bombing in northern Iraq

Baghdad, May 5: At least 17 civilians, including 12 children and three women, were killed in a US bombing in northern Iraq's Tal Afar city in the early hours of Thursday, Xinhua quoted Al Jazeera's Arabic channel as saying.

The United States deployed additional forces to Iraq last month and make Apache attack helicopters available to support the country's troops.

The United States heads an international coalition that is carrying out strikes against IS and also providing training and other assistance to forces fighting the jihadists in both Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

It has been bombing IS since August 2014, but most of the strikes are carried out by planes or drones.

IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained significant ground from the jihadists.

IANS