Kurdish forces recapture lost areas in pre-dawn fighting

by Ghazi Hars

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Islamic State (ISIS) militants overran three Kurdish army bases south of Makhmour township in an overnight attack Sunday, only to be pushed back hours later by Peshmerga forces, Kurdish officials told Rudaw. 

“The militants seized three villages along with the Kurdish military bases, but Peshmerga forces countered the attack and recaptured the lost area before dawn this morning,” an official at the Peshmerga ministry said. 

He said the retreating ISIS troops were targeted by coalition airstrikes. 

The strategic town of Makhmour is located between the Kurdistan Region in the north and Nineveh province in the west, where the ISIS stronghold of Mosul is located. 

Earlier this month, 23 Kurdish security forces were killed in Makhmour in an all out attack by jihadists who were later repelled by the Peshmerga troops.

Kurdish forces have continued to push back militants across the vast Nineveh province in northern Iraq, recapturing two villages east of Mosul Saturday, according to a statement by the Peshmerga ministry.

Dozens of villages have been recaptured since Tuesday when Kurdish forces launched a major offensive to assist Iraqi troops in a coordinated military action that is aimed at driving out ISIS from Mosul.

The statement said that 19 militants were killed in an operation that started and ended on Saturday, in which the villages of Shahiya and Ammarbeg were recaptured from the extremists. 

Last week, Peshmerga forces cut a key road linking Mosul to Tal Afar, degrading the grip of the radical group on northern areas of Iraq and setting the ground for an anticipated operation to recapture Mosul, which has been under ISIS control since June last year.