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ByDiaaHaid The Associated Press IRBIL, IRAQ The U.S. un- leashed its first airstrikes in northern Iraq against mil- itants of the Islamic State group Friday amid a wors- ening humanitarian crisis. The extremists took captive hundreds of women from a religious minority, accord- ing to an Iraqi official, while thousands of other civilians fled in fear. Many of America's allies backed the U.S. interven- tion, pledging urgent steps to assist the legions of ref- ugees and displaced peo- ple. Those in jeopardy in- cluded thousands of mem- bers of the Yazidi religious minority whose plight — trapped on a mountain- top by the militants — prompted the U.S. to air- drop crates of food and water to them. The extremists' "cam- paign of terror against the innocent, including the Ya- zidi and Christian minori- ties, and its grotesque and targeted acts of violence bear all the warning signs and hallmarks of genocide," said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. "For anyone who needed a wake-up call, this is it." Underscoring the sense of alarm, a spokesman for Iraq's human rights minis- try said hundreds of Yazidi women had been taken cap- tive by the militants. Kamil Amin, citing reports from the victims' families, said some of the women are be- ing held in schools in Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul. "We think that the terror- ists by now consider them slaves and they have vicious plans for them," Amin told The Associated Press. "We think that these women are going to be used in demean- ing ways by those terrorists to satisfy their animalistic urges in a way that contra- dicts all the human and Is- lamic values." For the U.S. military, which withdrew its forces from Iraq in late 2011 af- ter more than eight years of war, the re-engagement began when two F/A-18 jets dropped 500-pound bombs on a piece of artillery and the truck towing it. The Pentagon said the mili- tants were using the artil- lery to shell Kurdish forces defending Irbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurd- ish region and a base for nu- merous American person- nel. Later Friday, the U.S. launched a second round of airstrikes against tar- gets near Irbil, U.S. officials said. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't autho- rized to discuss the strikes publicly, said unmanned aircraft hit a mortar and four Navy F/A-18 fighter jets struck and destroyed a seven-vehicle convoy Expanding from their stronghold of Mosul, the militants have captured a string of towns and Iraq's largest hydroelectric dam and reservoir in recent weeks. Ethnic and religious minorities, fearing persecu- tion and slaughter, have fled as their towns fell. Many had taken refuge in the Khazer Camp, set up near Irbil, but it was empty Friday as the surge in fight- ing nearby prompted fami- lies to flee once again. Some made their way by car or on foot to Irbil; oth- ers were unaccounted for amid the sea of fleeing peo- ple. According to the U.N., more than 500,000 people have been displaced by the violence in Iraq since June, bringing the total this year to well over 1 million. In Irbil, hundreds of up- rooted men crowded the streets of a Christian-dom- inated neighborhood, ex- pressing relief at the news of U.S. airstrikes. Nazar, one man lingering outside a bare-bones build- ing-turned-shelter, fled his mainly Christian town of Hamdaniya on Wednesday, when their home began to shudder from the blast of nearby mortar fire. "We want a solution," said Nazar, who spoke on condition he be identified only by his first name, fear- ing his family's safety. "We don't to flee our homes and jobs like this. What is our future?" In contrast to Washing- ton's decision to invade Iraq more than a decade ago, both the airdrop and the authorization of mili- tary action against the Is- lamic State group were widely welcomed by Iraqi and Kurdish officials fearful of the militants' advance. "We thank Barack Obama," said Khalid Ja- mal Alber, from the Reli- gious Affairs Ministry in the Kurdish government. In his announcement Thursday night, Obama had identified protecting the Ya- zidis and defending Ameri- cans as Iraq as the two ob- jectives for the airstrikes. But on Friday, his spokes- man, Josh Earnest, said the U.S. was also prepared to use military force to assist Iraqi forces and the Kurds' peshmerga militia. While Iraq's military has proven unable in many cases to thwart the Islamic State force's capture of key Iraqi cities, Earnest called the peshmerga a "capable fighting force" that had shown an ability to regroup effectively. The Islamic State group captured Mosul in June, and then launched a blitz toward the south, sweep- ing over Sunni-majority towns almost to the cap- ital, Baghdad. It already holds large parts of west- ern Iraq, as well as large swaths of neighboring Syria. Iraqi government forces crumbled in the face of the assault but have since been able to prevent the militants from advancing into Shiite-majority areas. In the north, the Kurds have been the main line of defense against the radi- cals, but their fighters are stretched over a long front trying to fend them off. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, traveling in India, said if Islamic mil- itants threaten U.S. inter- ests in Iraq or the thou- sands of refugees in the mountains, the U.S. mil- itary has enough intelli- gence to clearly single out the attackers and launch ef- fective airstrikes. He also said more than 60 of the 72 bundles of food and water airdropped onto the mountain reached the people stranded there. The International Res- cue Committee said it was providing emergency med- ical care for up to 4,000 de- hydrated Yazidis, mostly women and children, who survived without food or water for up to six days hid- ing in the Sinjar mountains before fleeing to a refugee camp in Syria, where a civil war is raging. Officials in Britain, Germany and elsewhere pledged financial aid to support humanitarian ef- forts in Iraq, and several top European officials ex- pressed support for Pres- ident Obama's decision to intervene with airstrikes. MIDDLE EAST US a ir st ri ke s in I ra q; h um an it ar ia n cr is is w or se ns KHALIDMOHAMMED—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Kurdish Peshmerga fighters take cover during airstrikes targeting Islamic State militants near the Khazer checkpoint outside of the city of Irbil in northern Iraq, on Friday. By Maria Cheng The Associated Press LONDON The World Health Organization urged na- tions worldwide to donate money and resources to stop the spread of Ebola as it declared the outbreak in West Africa to be an in- ternational public health emergency. The latest Ebola outbreak is the largest and longest ever recorded for the dis- ease, which has a death rate of about 50 percent and has so far killed at least 961 peo- ple, according to the U.N. health agency. It emerged in Guinea in March and has since spread to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. "Countries affected to date simply do not have the capacity to manage an out- break of this size and com- plexity on their own," WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan told a news conference Fri- day in Geneva. "I urge the international community to provide this support on the most urgent basis possible." She added that the world's "collective health se- curity" depends on curbing the spread of the killer virus in West Africa, even as she acknowledged that many countries would probably not have any Ebola cases. The Nigerian govern- ment declared a national state of emergency late Fri- day for Africa's most popu- lous nation, saying two Eb- ola patients have died and seven other cases were con- firmed. President Goodluck Jonathan approved spend- ing $11.7 million to con- tain the disease and urged schools to extend a cur- rent holiday to give experts more time to assess the Eb- ola threat. Since Ebola was first identified in 1976, there have been more than 20 outbreaks in central and eastern Africa; this is the first to affect West Africa. The virus causes symptoms including fever, vomiting, muscle pain and bleeding. It is spread by direct con- tact with bodily fluids like blood, sweat, urine, saliva and diarrhea. The U.N. agency con- vened an expert commit- tee this week to assess the severity of the Ebola epi- demic. WHO declared sim- ilar emergencies for the swine flu pandemic in 2009 and for polio in May. The impact of WHO's declaration Friday is un- clear; its similar declaration about polio doesn't yet seem to have slowed the spread of the paralytic virus. "Statements won't save lives," said Dr. Bart Jans- sens, director of opera- tions for the Doctors With- out Borders charity group. "For weeks, (we) have been repeating that a massive medical, epidemiological and public health response is desperately needed. ... Lives are being lost because the response is too slow." WORLD UN: Ebola outbreak a public health emergency ABBAS DULLEH — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The image of Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, le , appears on a banner warning people about the Ebola virus in the city of Monrovia, Liberia, on Friday. By Josef Federman The Associated Press JERUSALEM A three-day- old truce collapsed Fri- day in a new round of vio- lence after Gaza militants resumed rocket attacks on Israel, drawing a wave of retaliatory airstrikes that killed at least five Palestin- ians, including three chil- dren. The eruption of fight- ing shattered a brief calm in the monthlong war and dealt a blow to Egyptian- led efforts to secure a long- term cease-fire between the bitter enemies. A delegation of Palestin- ian negotiators remained in Cairo in hopes of salvag- ing the talks. But partici- pants said the negotiations were not going well, and Is- rael said it would not nego- tiate under fire. The Pales- tinian delegation met again late Friday with Egyptian mediators. Azzam al-Ahmad, head of the Palestinian delega- tion, said the delegation would stay in Egypt until it reaches an agreement that "ensures" the rights of the Palestinian people. "We told Egyptians we are staying," he told reporters. The indirect talks are meant to bring an end to the deadliest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas since the Islamic militant group seized con- trol of Gaza in 2007. In four weeks of violence, more than 1,900 Gazans have been killed, roughly three- quarters of them civilians, according to Palestinian and U.N. officials. Sixty- seven people were killed on the Israeli side, includ- ing three civilians. The Palestinians are seeking an end to an Is- rael-Egyptian blockade imposed on Gaza after the Hamas takeover. The blockade, which Is- rael says is needed to pre- vent arms smuggling, has restricted movement in and out of the terri- tory of 1.8 million people and brought Gaza's econ- omy to a standstill. Israel says any long-term agree- ment must include guaran- tees that Hamas, an armed group sworn to Israel's de- struction, will give up its weapons. In Cairo, Palestinian participants in the talks were pessimistic about the chances of a deal. They said Israel was opposing every Palestinian proposal for lifting the blockade. For instance, the Pal- estinians are seeking greater movement of goods through Israeli-controlled cargo crossings, while Is- rael wants restrictions on "dual-use" items that could potentially be used for mil- itary purposes, they said. Israel also was resisting demands to allow move- ment between Gaza and the West Bank — Palestin- ian territories that are lo- cated on opposite sides of Israel, they said. "Israel in these talks wants to repackage the same old blockade. Our demands are ending the blockade and having free access for people and goods. This is what ending the blockade means. But Is- rael is not accepting that," said Bassam Salhi, a Pales- tinian negotiator. Negotiators said they ex- pected to remain in Cairo for several days. But with violence resuming, it was unclear how much prog- ress could be made. The Israeli delegation to the Cairo talks left Egypt on Friday morning, and it was not clear if it would return. "There will not be negotiations under fire," Is- raeli government spokes- man Mark Regev said. In Cairo, Khaled al- Batch, a leader of Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant group in Gaza, said that without a deal on easing the blockade, an informal truce might be the best that could be achieved. "When there is no cease- fire, that does not mean there is escalation," he said. "Our priority now is to fo- cus on stopping the Israeli aggression against our peo- ple and achieving our de- mands." Egypt's Foreign Minis- try urged restraint by both sides and called for a new cease-fire to resume nego- tiations. The ministry said progress had been made in the talks but did not ex- plain. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed "deep disappointment" at the failure to extend the cease-fire and urged the parties to swiftly find a way back to the negotiating ta- ble, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said. The original, three-day truce expired at 8 a.m. Fri- day. But Gaza militants be- gan firing rockets even be- fore then. By late Friday, nearly 60 rockets had been fired. Two Israelis were hurt, and one of the rock- ets damaged a home. MIDDLE EAST Israel-Hamas truce collapses in new violence HATEM MOUSSA — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Smoke, dust and debris rise over Gaza City a er an Israeli strike on Friday as Israel and Gaza militants resumed cross-border attacks a er a three-day truce expired and Egyptian-brokered talks on a new border deal for blockaded Gaza hit a deadlock. | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2014 4 B