Officials: U.S. considering new relief mission in Iraq

Civilians inspect a crater caused by a car bomb explosion in commercial area of New Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014. The parked car bomb exploded on Tuesday in a busy area in eastern Baghdad, killing and wounding scores of people, officials said, the latest in a series of attacks to shake the Iraqi capital as the Shiite-led government struggles to dislodge Sunni militants from areas in the country's west and north.
Civilians inspect a crater caused by a car bomb explosion in commercial area of New Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014. The parked car bomb exploded on Tuesday in a busy area in eastern Baghdad, killing and wounding scores of people, officials said, the latest in a series of attacks to shake the Iraqi capital as the Shiite-led government struggles to dislodge Sunni militants from areas in the country's west and north.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is considering launching a humanitarian relief operation for Shiite Turkmen in northern Iraq who have been under siege for weeks by Islamic State militants, U.S. defense officials said Wednesday.

The mission, if it went forward, would be the second recent U.S. military humanitarian intervention in Iraq. U.S. cargo planes dropped tons of food and water to displaced Yazidis on Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq earlier this month, supported by U.S. airstrikes on nearby Islamic State fighting positions.

The administration is now focused on the imperiled town of Amirli, which is situated about 105 miles north of Baghdad and just a few miles from Kurdish territory.

Three U.S. defense officials said a humanitarian mission is under consideration. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they could not discuss internal administration deliberations by name. The timetable for a decision on whether and how to go ahead with the mission was not immediately clear.

Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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