Kerry says confident Sinjar will be liberated in days

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday he was "absolutely confident" the Iraqi town of Sinjar would we retaken from Islamic State militants in days after Kurdish forces, backed by U.S. air strikes, launched an offensive there.

Kurdish forces said they had secured strategic facilities in the northern Iraqi town on Friday as part of an action that could provide critical momentum in efforts to defeat the jihadist group.

"There are some entrenched IS fighters, but we are absolutely confident that over the next days Sinjar will be able to be liberated," Kerry said during a visit to Tunis.

Kerry said U.S. officials were still assessing the strike that targeted Islamic State militant "Jihadi John", but he said the operation showed the group's days were numbered.

The United States on Thursday carried out an air strike in Syria targeting the militant, a British citizen named Mohammed Emwazi who participated in gruesome videos showing the killings of American and British hostages, officials said.

One U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the strike likely killed Emwazi though it was too soon to be certain.

If his death is confirmed, it would be an key strike in the U.S.-led campaign against the group and would come more than a year after U.S. President Barack Obama promised justice after the deaths of American hostages.

Emwazi participated in videos showing the killings of U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, U.S. aid worker Peter Kassig, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, and other hostages.