New US strikes in Iraq after IS Foley video
US troops landed in Syria earlier this month and searched for Foley, as Tom Esslemont reports
US aircraft have launched fresh strikes against Islamic State (IS) militants in northern Iraq, despite threats from the group to kill a second American captive in retribution for continued attacks.
US Navy fighters and drones provided air cover to Kurdish and Iraqi forces battling IS near the city of Mosul.
On Tuesday the group released a video showing the beheading of journalist James Foley, who went missing in 2012.
In it, the militants threatened to kill another US reporter they are holding.
But since the video was released, American forces have conducted 14 new strikes near the Mosul dam, a key facility recaptured from IS militants earlier this week.
The raids provided air cover as Kurdish and Iraqi forces pushed into the hills south-west of the site, Kurdish sources said. US officials said they had successfully eliminated vehicles and other targets belonging to IS.
The US has been carrying out strikes against IS - which has been seizing large parts of Syria and Iraq - since 8 August.
Barack Obama: "People like [IS] ultimately fail, they fail because the future is won by those who build and not destroy"
In its video, the group said it has killed Foley in revenge for such attacks. US President Barack Obama on Wednesday called the killing "an act of violence that shocks the conscience of the entire world".
Failed rescue
Also on Wednesday, the Pentagon said the US had "attempted a rescue operation recently to free a number of American hostages held in Syria".
It said the operation "involved air and ground components".
US forces have been carrying out air strikes in northern Iraq for almost two weeks
Kurdish forces are pushing into the hills south west of the dam above Mosul
"Unfortunately, the mission was not successful because the hostages were not present at the targeted location."
It was the first time the US government had acknowledged that its forces had operated in Syria since the country's civil war began in 2011.
The New York Times newspaper quoted unnamed US officials as saying the raid occurred at an oil refinery in the north.
They say commandos were dropped by helicopters, but found that the hostages had recently been moved.
Analysis: BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner
The race to identify James Foley's killer has been taking many forms.
On the databases of MI5, the UK security service, in the records of the Police Counter-Terrorism Unit and out in the digital forums and social media postings of the internet, clues are being examined and assessed.
The man who murdered the American journalist in cold blood is thought to have probably come from London or south-east England. He is presumed to have travelled to Syria some time during the last three years and he will be well known to some in jihadist circles.
Unconfirmed reports say he is one of a small handful of Britons tasked with guarding Islamic State's western captives. The militant who appears in the video is careful to keep much of his face hidden but the voice on the tape is distinctive and analysts believe it is only a matter of time before he is identified.
Bringing him to justice though, will be an altogether more difficult proposition.bbc
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