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Body of US Iraq war veteran suspected of killing six family members discovered in Pennsylvania
Police in the US searching for an Iraq war veteran suspected of killing six members of his own family in Pennsylvania, say they have found his body. A district attorney said it was discovered...

By: euronews (in English)

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Body of US Iraq war veteran suspected of killing six family members discovered in Pennsylvania - Video

U S Aircraft Strike ISIS In Iraq Fighter Jets Drop 500 Pound Bombs
The Globalist Agenda represents a plan to bring all of Earth #39;s inhabitants under the control of a single, global state. There is a small, but powerful group of individuals who are the architects...

By: The Globalist Agenda

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U S Aircraft Strike ISIS In Iraq Fighter Jets Drop 500 Pound Bombs - Video

As the US-led campaign against the Islamic State grinds on, China has unexpectedly offered to help in the war effort,Najmeh Bozorgmehr and Lucy Hornby report for the Financial Times.

Wang Yi, China's foreign minister, has offered to help the Iraqi military defeat the militant group by providing support for ongoing air strikes. However, Chinese assistance would come unilaterally and outside of the framework of the US-led coalition against the Islamic State.

[Mr Wang] said, our policy does not allow us to get involved in the international coalition, Ibrahim Jafari, Iraq's foreign minister who was in talks with Yi, told the Financial Times.

China's unwillingness to join the coalition may make its military contributions to the war effort similar to Iran's. Iran has started conducting airstrikes against the Islamic State along the Iraq-Iran border without membership in or even clear coordination with the US-led coalition.

China's interest in Iraq is largely driven by Beijing's investment in the Iraqi oil industry. According to the Financial Times, China is the largest foreign investor in Iraq's oil sector. Beijing draws one-fifth of its oil from the country and about 10,000 Chinese nationals were working in Iraqi oil fields before the Islamic State's blitz across the country this past summer.

Chinese intervention in Iraq would further demonstrate Beijing's willingness to flex its military muscle in order to shield its economic interests abroad. In September, China announced it would deploy 700 infantry soldiers to aid the United Nations mission in war-torn South Sudan. It is suspected that China has sent the soldiers to protect oil interests, as China receives 5% of its crude oil from South Sudan.

China is also becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the Islamic State's existence and may view the group as a national-security treat. An estimated 300 Chinese nationals, largely from the country's Uighur minority, are believed to be fighting alongside the militants.

The 300 extremists are thought to have been members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a group based in China's Xinjiang province that has carried out attacks throughout China.

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China Airstrikes In Iraq - Business Insider

Arbil, Iraq: Iraqi Kurdish forces on Wednesday launched a broad offensive backed by mass bombing from US-led coalition warplanes to retake the northeastern Sinjar area from the Islamic State group.

In neighbouring Syria, the bodies of 230 people from a tribe that rose up against the jihadists in the Deir Ezzor region have been found in a mass grave, a monitoring group said.

Sixty-one air strikes were carried out in Iraq since Monday, some of the heaviest bombardment since a jihadist onslaught on the Sinjar region prompted the first US air raids four months ago.

The US military said "45 strikes were conducted in support of the peshmerga (Kurdish army) and Iraqi security forces operating in the region".

Most of the other raids were also in northern Iraq, destroying dozens of bulldozers, vehicles, checkpoints, enemy fighting positions, enemy fighters, and equipment.

The peshmerga said eight areas had been recaptured in the initial phase of its offensive on Wednesday and around 80 IS fighters killed.

On social media, Kurdish fighters posted pictures of each other posing in front of dead bodies.

Among the goals of the operation is the Sinjar area, home to many members of the Yazidi minority before jihadists attacked in early August and forced most of them to flee.

The risk of a genocide against the Yazidis was one of the reasons US President Barack Obama put forward for launching the aerial campaign against IS.

- Syria Mass Grave -

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Iraq Kurds, Coalition Jets in Major Push to Retake Sinjar Area

LONDON, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Developing the oil export potential in the Kurdish region of Iraq will help secure the future of a united country, the British energy minister said Wednesday.

Iraqi, Kurdish and other regional players gathered in London for an investment conference, two weeks after agreements in Iraq ended long-standing disputes over who has what level of control over the nation's oil sector.

British Energy Minister Matthew Hancock said investors need to stand by Iraq now that security and the political climate have improved. By 2040, he said, Iraqi crude oil production could triple to just over 8 million barrels per day.

"Reserves in Kurdistan play a significant role in this increase," he said. "Development and export opportunities in the Kurdistan region will play a very important role in the future energy sector of a united Iraq."

Gulf Keystone Petroleum, an energy company with headquarters in London, announced this week it linked oil wells in the Shaikan field to production facilities in the Kurdish north of Iraq.

With its partners at Hungarian energy company MOL, the company said the addition should increase total regional production from a combined average of 24,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to 40,000 boepd.

Both companies said crude oil taken from the Shaikan reserve area was making its way to the export market from the Turkish coast.

Exports of Kurdish oil have sparked legal battles between the semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government and the central government in Baghdad. KRG under the terms of the agreement funnels 250,000 barrels of oil per day to Baghdad and agrees to use the federal State Oil Marketing Organization for sales.

Security threats posed by the group calling itself the Islamic State and the collapse in crude oil prices may dampen expectations in the Iraqi oil sector short term.

"All parts of the country and population must see investment and the right conditions for prosperity, creating a vibrant private sector," the British official said. "Iraq's economic development will be vital for its political future and stability."

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Kurdish oil vital for Iraq, London says