US vice president says, IS momentum halted in Iraq

Vice President Joseph Biden said on Thursday that US-led airstrikes have helped Iraqi forces halt the offensive by the Islamic State (IS) group in the Arab country, with its "aura of invincibility" pierced.

"The jury's still out," Xinhua quoted Biden as saying at the National Defense University in Washington DC. "It's not over yet, but the momentum is in the right direction."

Washington began airstrikes on IS targets inside Iraq on August 8 last year and has sent back some 3,000 troops in its efforts to stem the lightening advances by the militants there.

"Eight months ago, ISIL was on the offensive everywhere in Iraq," Biden said, using IS' another name. "But today in Iraq, ISIL has lost large areas that it used to dominate. ISIL's momentum in Iraq has been halted and in many places... has been flat-out reversed."

"I don't want to paint an overly rosy picture, but ISIL's aura of invincibility has been pierced," he added.