Obama says United States Underestimated Threat by Islamic State Militants

President Barack Obama has acknowledged that United States agencies underestimated the threat posed by the Islamist insurgency in Syria.

In a frank TV interview, he said al-Qaeda had been beaten in Iraq by US forces working with Sunni tribes. But they took advantage of the power vacuum in neighbouring Syria to emerge as Isis, later called Islamic State.
Meanwhile, there has been fierce fighting to the west of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.