Australia Conducts First Airstrike in Iraq

Australia has carried out its first airstrike against the Islamic State militants in Iraq, the Australian Defense Forces said Thursday.

The Australian cabinet last week had authorized  airstrikes against the Islamic State Militants in Iraq.

"Overnight the Australian Air Task Group operating in the Middle East attacked its first target in Iraq," the Australian Defense Force said in a statement.

"Two bombs were dropped from an F/A-18F Super Hornet on to an ISIL facility. All aircraft exited the target area safely and returned to base," it said, using an alternate name for the group, reports Reuters.

Top Australian Defense officer's said that its Super Hornet fighters had aborted airstrikes on a moving Islamic State target on Sunday because of risk to civilians.

The officers said that pilots had to abort the strikes because the target moved into a residential area. The pilots employed the "red card system", which cancels any strikes if it violates Australia's rules of engagement, they said.

"One of our [Super Hornet] packages on the first night ... had an identified target which it was tracking and that particular target moved into an urban area where the risks of conducting a strike on that target increased to a point where it exceeded our expectations of collateral damage, so they discontinued the attack at that point," Vice Admiral David Johnston, Chief of Joint Operations, said, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

Refusing to specify the target, Chief of the Defense Force Mark Binskin said that it was expected that the Islamic State militants would hide in urban areas. This also meant that the air strikes were working, he said. Due to the air strikes, the militants would not be able to move freely in the ground and strengthen their bases. This would also give Iraqi military sufficient time to establish control over the territory, he said.