As US and allies continue attacks and Jordan launches its own air strikes against militants, family of American aid worker holds out hope that she is still alive

US-led forces have launched 15 air strikes against Islamic State (Isis) militants in Iraq and 11 in Syria since Friday, the US military said on Saturday, adding that nine targets in Syria centered around the border city of Kobani that was recaptured from the militants last month.

On Friday, supporters of Isis claimed that an American aid worker held hostage by the militant group had been killed in a Jordanian air strike intended to avenge the burning to death of a captured Jordanian pilot.

Jordan carried out a third straight day of air strikes on Isis targets on Saturday, it said.

“Sorties of air force fighters today bombed bases of the Daesh terror gang,” state television said in a bulletin, using a derogatory Arabic name for the militants. It said some of the targets were in the Syrian city of Taqqa but gave no other details.



A Jordanian army source said on Saturday that the United Arab Emirates were sending a squadron of F-16 jet fighters to Jordan to assist with air strikes.



Isis supporters claim US hostage killed in Jordanian air strike in Syria Read more

A statement posted on a website sometimes used by Isis fighters and their supporters said Kayla Mueller, 26, had been killed by a missile strike during a bombing raid by Jordanian planes on the Syrian city of Raqqa early on Friday.

Mueller’s parents, Carl and Marsha Mueller from Arizona, released a statement in which they said they were still hopeful she was alive.

A statement released by the Combined Joint Task Force on Saturday detailed the latest US-led strikes against Isis. The Kobani strikes hit seven of the militants’ tactical units and destroyed five vehicles and two staging areas, the statement said.

The strikes in Iraq targeted northern areas including al-Qaim, Kirkuk, Mahkmur, Mosul and Tal Afar, it said. The strikes took place in a 24-hour period beginning Friday.

Strikes against Isis in Iraq began on 8 August; strikes in Syria began on 23 September.