Push for coalition 
strategy 
to tackle IS killers

Following a summit of foreign ministers from over 30 countries, the Prime Minister said he believes the UN will back an international coalition strategy for tackling IS.

Mr Cameron called such support an important part of the blueprint for dealing with the extremists.

It is still unclear whether Britain will join in United States air strikes against IS in Syria, with ministers refusing to rule it out but insisting that no decision had been made.

The United States has taken the first step in its expanded fight against Islamic State (IS) militants, going to the aid of Iraqi security forces near Baghdad who were being attacked by enemy fighters.

The US Central Command said it conducted two air strikes on Sunday and Monday in support of the Iraqi forces near Sinjar and south-west of Baghdad.

The British Government is currently arming Kurdish Peshmerga forces fighting IS in Iraq and providing other support in the country.

With the UN summit next week set to prove crucial in determining the way forward for the group of countries including Britain, the US, European countries and Middle Eastern states, Mr Cameron said he expected “full backing”.

Calls for Parliament to be recalled so MPs can consider and potentially vote on military action grew with deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman saying Mr Cameron should reconvene the Commons if force is to be used.

The extremists are now threatening to murder former cab driver Alan Henning, who was snatched while travelling with an aid convoy in Syria.

The threat follows the killing of British aid worker David Haines, who was born in Holderness, East Yorkshire, and two American journalists.

Al-Qaida asked IS to release Mr Henning four days after he was captured, according to American filmmaker Bilal Abdul Kareem.

He told the Independent newspaper that Jabhat al-Nusra, a local commander of an al-Qaida group in Syria, had criticised the kidnappers, saying they had no right to take Mr Henning hostage simply because he was non-Muslim.

The “Islamic State” would respond to any intensification of Western air strikes by beheading more hostages, a man who claims to have defected from the terror group has warned.

The unnamed man – whose identity could not be independently verified – said the West’s outraged responses to IS’s actions only encouraged the group to carry out more atrocities.

The man’s comments were broadcast by BBC Radio 4’s World At One, which said he told its reporter he was impressed by the extremists’ efficiency and the “five-star lifestyle” they delivered their supporters, but decided to leave when he became disgusted by their brutality.