RAF Tornado fighter jets bomb 30 Isis militants attacking Kurdish forces in northern Iraq

'There was heavy cloud, which may have encouraged the terrorists to assume that they were safe from air attack'

An RAF Tornado GR4 aircraft ( Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

RAF Tornado fighter jets have bombed a group of more than 30 Isis militants attacking Kurdish forces in northern Iraq, the Ministry of Defence says.

A GR4 patrol of the aircraft was able to "guide" a Paveway bomb on to the group, in support of an offensive by Kurdish peshmerga fighters in the Mosul region near Sinjar.

The MoD said the strike on Isis - also known as Isil, IS or Daesh - had been "highly effective".

"The first flight used a Paveway bomb to destroy a mortar position which had opened fire on the Kurds," it said in a statement.

"The following mission destroyed a heavy machine gun near Mosul with a Paveway IV, then proceeded west towards Sinjar.

"There was heavy cloud, which may have encouraged the terrorists to assume that they were safe from air attack, but, working very closely with the Kurdish forces, the GR4s were able to guide a Paveway on to a large group of over 30 Daesh terrorists who were massing for a counter-attack; the Kurdish unit subsequently reported that the air strike had been highly effective.

"The Tornado patrol then destroyed another Isil mortar position south-west of Sinjar."

It continues a campaign of British air strikes against Isis in Iraq, with David Cameron keen to secure parliamentary backing for raids on positions in Syria.

In the wake of Friday's series of attacks in Paris that killed 129 people, France has intensified its bombing of militants in Syria and says it would be "appreciated" if Britain contributed to the fight.