Islamic State fighters execute Iraqi troops

BAGHDAD — Militants from the Islamic State group on Sunday publicly killed six Iraqi soldiers captured in an embattled western province where the extremists continue to advance despite an expanding U.S.-led campaign of airstrikes, residents said. The killings took place in the town of Hit, about 140 kilometres west of Baghdad. The Iraqi soldiers — one in uniform and five in civilian clothes — were lined up against a wall in the town of Hit and shot in the head, the residents said. The militants also bombed a police station in Hit, they said. In other key developments Sunday:

• Islamic State militants shelled a beleaguered Syrian Kurdish town near the Turkish border, sending pillars of smoke billowing into the sky as Kurdish militiamen scrambled to repel the extremists’ offensive, activists said. The extremists, who have staked out positions to the east, west and south of Kobani, shelled the town with rockets, mortars and tank shells, the Observatory said. There was also heavy fighting for control of a strategic hill south of town.

• U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden called the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates to clarify that he did not mean to imply in his remarks last week that the Gulf ally was supporting terrorist fighters in Syria. Biden spoke with Prince Mohamed bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and a key Emirati leader, the White House said. Earlier Sunday, an exasperated UAE requested “a formal clarification” from Biden on comments that America’s allies in the Middle East sent weapons and cash to extremists fighting in Syria.

• Egypt’s state news agency says security forces have arrested four suspected members of a militant cell recruiting fighters for the Islamic State group in Syria.