U.S. boosts Iraq surveillance flights to 50 daily from one monthly

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has boosted the number of surveillance flights over Iraq to nearly 50 a day from one a month as it faces Sunni Islamist militants who control swaths of Iraqi territory, a top State Department official said on Wednesday.

However, Washington has not yet authorized unmanned drone strikes, as requested by Baghdad, on the forces now known as Islamic State, Brett McGurk, deputy assistant secretary for Iraq and Iran, testified at a House of Representatives hearing.