U.S. advisors aid Kurdish offensive in Iraq but away from fighting

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. military advisors are with Kurdish commanders near Sinjar mountain but are positioned well back from the fighting amid a Kurdish offensive on Thursday to retake the Iraqi town of Sinjar from Islamic State militants, a U.S. military spokesman said. U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren told Reuters some U.S. advisors were also on Sinjar mountain working with the Kurdish peshmerga forces to advise and assist with the development of targets for air strikes. The U.S. military estimated that some 60 to 70 Islamic State fighters had been killed in U.S.-led coalition airstrikes so far on Thursday, said Warren, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition effort against Islamic State. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Susan Heavey)