Briton ‘dies in suicide bomb attack’ in Iraq

The Foreign Office is investigating reports from Iraq that a Briton was killed in a suicide bomb attack.

The British father of two, named as Kabir Ahmed from Derby, is thought to have blown himself up while fighting with Islamic State (IS) forces in the town of Beiji north of Baghdad.

Another British jihadist bomber died in February during an attack in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

British and US forces have pledged to increase their military presence to continue the fight against IS, which has taken control of large areas of Iraq and Syria.

US-led coalition forces carried out further air strikes against IS militants on Friday, destroying a convoy of vehicles near Mosul in northern Iraq, although officials were unable to confirm reports that IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed as a result.

Since August, US and ally forces have carried out missile and bombing missions against IS operating in Iraq and Syria, although the UK has only carried out air strikes in Iraq due to the limited mandate granted by Parliament.

Ten armed Is trucks were hit during the latest strikes, the US said, demonstrating “the pressure we continue to place on the IS terrorist network”.

No ‘boots on the ground’

Iraqi military forces battling the onset of IS reached the centre of the northern city of Baiji on Sunday as it tried to break an IS of the country’s biggest refinery nearby.

Iraqi security forces used helicopters to attack Islamic State insurgents surrounding the refinery.

The UK has announced an increase to its military presence in Iraq to assist Iraqi forces, as the US doubles the number of its own troops to just over 3,000, although both countries emphasise they are not putting “boots on the ground” to fight Is forces.

The UK will send military trainers within weeks to work at a US headquarters in Baghdad, having sent a dozen trainers to help Kurdish forces in the northern city of Irbil.

British forces pulled out of Iraq in 2011, eight years after the mission that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The US will send 1,500 more non-combat troops to Iraq to add to the 1,600 military advisers already in the country.

The Pentagon said the troops would establish several sites to train nine Iraqi army and three Kurdish Peshmerga brigades.

A White House spokesman said US soldiers “will not be in combat, but they will be better positioned to support Iraqi security forces as they take the fight” to IS.

US President Obama would will also request $5.6bn from Congress to support ongoing operations against IS fighters in Iraq and Syria.