Japan Expresses Support for U.S. Airstrikes in Iraq

Tokyo, Aug. 11 (Jiji Press)--Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera has expressed Japan's support for U.S. airstrikes on Islamic militants in northern Iraq. Japan will continue to support the U.S. war on terrorism, Onodera said Sunday in a meeting in Tokyo with Howard McKeon, chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee. McKeon, a California Republican, said the U.S. Congress firmly backs President Barack Obama's decision. The U.S. military Friday began airstrikes on the Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim extremist group that is advancing through northern Iraq. END