Article content

Iraq has bought used fighter jets from Russia and Belarus to battle Islamist militants after long delays in the delivery of F-16 planes from the U.S. left troops without air support, Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki said.

The jets “should arrive in Iraq in two or three days,” Al-Maliki said.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Iraq buys Russian jets to 'destroy the terrorists' dens' after long delays waiting for U.S. F-16s Back to video

“God willing within one week this force will be effective and will destroy the terrorists’ dens,” he said.

Al-Maliki, in an interview with BBC Arabic, blamed the U.S.’s “long, very slow way” for delaying the delivery of 36 aircraft.

“I’ll be frank and say that we were deluded when we signed the contract [with the U.S.],” Al-Maliki said.

“We shouldn’t have just bought U.S. jets, we should have bought British, French and Russian jets to provide air support. If we had air support, none of this would have happened.”

The U.S is delivering the first two F-16 aircraft “as quickly as possible” and has said all along that they’ll be handed over in the fall, Army colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters in Washington. He also said that the remaining 200 of 500 Hellfire missiles approved for delivery to Iraq will be sent in the coming weeks.