U . S . warplanes hammer ISIS stronghold , activists say

- U.S.-led coalition warplanes carried
out as many as 30 airstrikes overnight against
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants
in and around the group's de facto capital in
northeastern Syria, activists said Sunday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights said the strikes targeted ISIS
positions in the city of Raqqa as well as the
Division 17 air base, which the militants
seized earlier this year from government
forces.
The monitoring group, which relies on a
network of activists inside Syria, reported at
least 30 coalition strikes in all. The Local
Coordination Committees, an activist
collective, also confirmed the airstrikes.
Neither group had casualty figures.
There was no immediate confirmation from
the U.S. military.
Raqqa has been the site of heavy
bombardment by Syria government forces as
well. Activists say 95 people, including many
civilians, were killed in strikes there by Assad
government air force bombings last week.

The American-led coalition began targeting
ISIS in Syria in September, expanding an
aerial campaign already hitting the extremist
group in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Iraqi officials say two separate
bombings have killed seven people in the
capital Baghdad.
Police officials say a bomb exploded on
Sunday near a small restaurant, killing four
people and wounding nine others in
northwestern Baghdad. A separate bomb blast
near a wholesale fruit and grocery market
killed three people and wounded 12 others in
a southern Baghdad suburb.
Medical officials confirmed the casualties. All
officials spoke on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorized to brief the
media.
Iraq sees near-daily bombings and other
attacks mainly targeting Shiite neighborhoods,
security forces and Sunnis allied with the
government. The attacks are often claimed by
the Sunni extremist group ISIS, which seized
much of northern and western Iraq in a
summer offensive.