Bombs kill 13 Iraq Kurds in anti-ISIS operation
Roadside bombs and explosives-rigged vehicles left by the militants killed 13 peshmerga and wounded 47 during the operation
Bombs killed 13 members of the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces during an operation against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant group in the northern province of Kirkuk on Friday, officers said.
“The aim (of the operation) is to secure the Baghdad-Kirkuk road and the centre of the Daquq district and to end activity by (ISIS) members,” said Mohammed Mustafa Hama, a brigadier general in the autonomous Kurdish region’s peshmerga forces.
Hama said that roadside bombs and explosives-rigged vehicles left by the militants killed 13 peshmerga and wounded 47 during the operation, figures confirmed by a second Kurdish brigadier general who declined to be identified by name.
The second officer said the operation was launched at dawn on Friday with support from international coalition aircraft, and had succeeded in retaking 10 villages from ISIS.
Kurdish forces also retook villages from ISIS in Kirkuk in a similar operation in late August.
ISIS overran large areas of Iraq in a devastating offensive in June 2014, sweeping security forces aside, and drove Kurdish forces back towards their regional capital that August.
A U.S.-led coalition began carrying out air strikes against the jihadists and Kurdish forces have since pushed the militants back, as have Iraqi federal forces in other areas.
But much of western Iraq remains under ISIS control.
-
ISIS attacks kill 13 Iraqi troops; Syrian oil field retaken
ISIS controls most of Syria's oil fields, along the border with Iraq Middle East -
Iraq air force hit ISIS with new F-16s
Iraq’s Defense Minister Khaled al-Obaidi told the news conference that the strikes had achieved ‘important results’ Middle East -
U.S., allies conduct 23 air strikes against ISIS
The United States and its allies conducted 23 air strikes against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants in Iraq and Syria on Wednesday Middle East -
200 residents of Iraqi town held by ISIS
Demonstrating against the ISIS group in areas under its control had been rare since the group seized much of northern and western Iraq Middle East -
Kurdish forces free 7 villages in Iraq from ISIS
Western-backed Kurdish fighters freed seven villages from the clasps of ISIS in northern Iraq Middle East -
FBI warns U.S. art dealers about antiquities looted from Syria, Iraq
The looting of ancient artifacts across Iraq and Syria and their sale on the black market has become a source of funding for ISIS militants Middle East -
ISIS attack in Iraq kills 23 soldiers, Sunni fighters
The officials said the attack killed 17 soldiers and six Sunni militia fighters in the rural district of Jaramshah, north of Ramadi Middle East -
ISIS ambushes, kills 53 Iraq troops
A top provincial official in Iraq’s Anbar province says up to 50 soldiers have been killed by ISIS militants Middle East -
Where is Iraq’s Baath party today?
Iraq’s Baathist remnants and ISIS alliance dubbed as ‘temporary,’ ‘marriage of convenience’ Analysis -
ISIS says American suicide bomber carried out Iraq attack
ISIS said Wednesday that an American was among four suicide bombers who carried out attacks against Iraqi security forces in the Baiji area north of ... Middle East