U.N. Security Council Urges World to Step up Help to Iraq

The U.N. Security Council on Friday urged the world to step up support for the Iraqi government and its security forces in their intensifying battle against Islamist fighters.

In a unanimous statement, the 15-member council condemned the "vicious string of suicide, vehicle-borne and other attacks" in Baghdad and surrounding provinces carried out by the Islamic State organization.

The council "urged the international community, in accordance with international law, to further strengthen and expand support for the government of Iraq, including Iraqi security forces, in the fight against ISIL and associated armed groups," it said, using an alternative name for the militants.

U.S.-led warplanes pummeled Islamic State fighters in Syria Friday as Iraqi forces fought the jihadists west of Baghdad.

Iraqi government forces launched an offensive Friday north of Tikrit, one of a series of mainly Sunni Arab towns north and west of Baghdad that the jihadists seized in June.

Iraqi troops have been struggling to retake and hold ground, despite the coalition air strikes.

The council emphasized the need "to combat by all means" the threat posed by the Islamic State organization, which it has labeled a terrorist group.

Despite a string of car bombs in the Iraqi capital, the U.S. military said Baghdad was not under "imminent threat" from the jihadists.