France says carried out air strikes in Iraq on Thursday

PARIS (Reuters) - French fighter jets struck four hangars belonging to Islamic State and containing military equipment on Thursday near the Iraqi city of Fallujah, the Defense Ministry said. Rafale fighter jets flying over Iraq identified the targets and launched laser-guided missiles at the targets west of the capital Baghdad shortly before 10 a.m. Iraq time, the ministry said in a statement. The strikes were the first by French jets since Sept. 19 when Paris joined the United States military action against Islamic State insurgents in Iraq who have taken over parts of the country. (Reporting By Julien Ponthus and Nicholas Vinocur; writing by John Irish; Editing by Andrew Callus)