Iraq welcomes Syrian air strike

The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Kamil al-Maliki, has said he is pleased Syrian fighter jets are bombing Sunni insurgent positions on the border of the two countries, Radio New Zealand reports.

Maliki says Iraq had not requested the strikes but that it "welcomed" them.

“They carry out their strikes and we carry out ours and the final winners are our two countries,” he said.

Military and rebel sources said the strikes took place inside Iraq, at the Qaim crossing, although Maliki said they were carried out on the Syrian side.

Militant sources have been reporting for two days that Syrian jets hit the Iraqi side of Qaim, and also Rutba which is further inside Iraq.

The militants said 70 people were killed in the first attack and 20 in the second.