following

Canberra: Australia has increased striking key Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria and Iraq following changes to its war crimes legislation, a senior air force officer said on Thursday. In June, the Australian government modified its war crimes bill to allow servicemen to engage in wider range of hostile terrorist targets without fear of prosecution, Xinhua news reported. On Thursday, the air force officer told media that since the changes were implemented, Australian bombers were recording a "weapons release rate" of 61 per cent, up from 20 per cent earlier in 2016. "Previously we would have rejected targets because they fell…