ISIS’ plot to ‘attack’ US metro unearthed

Senior US officials said they had no evidence of the specific threat cited by Abadi, but New York’s governor said he and his counterpart in New Jersey were already beefing up transport security in light of possible Islamic State threats. France had said earlier on Thursday it would boost security on transport and in public places after the killing of French tourist Herve Gourdel by IS sympathisers in Algeria. Britain, the closest US ally in the past decade’s wars, finally announced on Thursday that it too would join air strikes against IS targets in Iraq, after weeks of weighing its options. Prime Minister David Cameron recalled parliament, which is expected to give its approval on Friday.

While Arab countries have joined the coalition, Washington’s traditional Western allies had been slow to answer the call from Barack Obama. But since Monday, Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands have said they would send planes. The Western allies have so far agreed to join air strikes only in Iraq, where the government has asked for help, and not in Syria, where strikes are being carried out without formal permission from President Bashar al-Assad. France said on Thursday it did not rule out extending strikes to Syria, too. US-led air strikes in eastern Syria killed 14 IS fighters, according to a monitoring group, while on the ground, Kurdish forces were reported to have pushed back an advance by the Islamists towards Kobani.