France’s Rafale fighter jets struck a training centre of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group overnight in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, the French army’s chief staff, General Peter de Villiers, said .

As part of the coalition military offensive to halt the militants’ advance, French aircraft dropped 70 bombs, of which 12 were laser-guided, to destroy 12 targets in northern Iraq in the early hours of the morning, Xinhua cited Gen. de Villiers as telling French broadcaster Europe1.

“We made an important operation in Iraq. We destroyed buildings where Daesh (the Arabic name of IS) produced their traps, bombs and weapons to attack Iraqi forces,” he said, adding more fighter jets would be deployed “if necessary” to crack down on IS insurgents in Iraq.

For its Operation Chammal – the US-led multinational operation against the IS in Iraq — in the conflict-torn Arab state, Paris has mobilised nine fighter jets and tanker aircraft to help destroy IS targets.

The strikes were the seventh by French jets since Sep 19 when France joined the US-led offensive against the Islamist militants in Iraq who have taken major cities in the country and forcibly displaced thousands of people.