Security forces retake areas from IS militants in Iraq, 49 killed

Iraqi security forces on Saturday freed a town and seized new areas from the Islamic State (IS) militants in northern and eastern Iraq, leaving at least 49 IS militants killed, security sources and officials said.

In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, the security forces backed by Shiite militiamen and aircraft retook control of al-Sodour dam near the volatile town of Maqdadiyah, some 100 km northeast of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, after fierce clashes with the IS militants, leaving at least eight IS militants killed, Adnan al-Timimi, head of the town council, told reporters.

A provincial security source told Xinhua that the troops shot dead three more would-be suicide bombers wearing explosive vests at a village near Maqdadiyah.

Meanwhile, the security forces and allied Shiite militias freed seven villages in Shirween rural area in northeast of Maqdadiyah after heavy clashes that resulted in the killing of 10 IS militants, Khudir Muslim, a member of Diyala provincial council told Xinhua.

The battles are underway and the troops are advancing from several directions to free the remaining five villages of the rural area near Shirween, which is the last of the IS redoubts in Diyala province, Muslim said.

The battles in Diyala are part of a major offensive by the Iraqi forces and allied Shiite militias launched early on Friday with the aim of ending the presence of the extremist militants in whole Iraq's eastern province of Diyala.

In Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, the Kurdish security forces, known as Peshmerga, backed by U.S.-led coalition aircraft, continued their battles with the IS militants and managed to retake control of the town of Wanna, just south of Iraq's largest Mosul Dam on the Tigris River, about 70 km north of the provincial capital city of Mosul, a Kurdish security source told Xinhua.

The troops killed at least 28 IS militants during the past 24 hours in the battles in north of Mosul, the source said without giving further details.

The Kurdish forces also seized Aski Mosul area, just north of the militants-seized city of Mosul, which itself located some 400 km north of Baghdad, the source said.

As for Saturday's advance, the Peshemrga forces managed to cut the IS supply road between Mosul and the towns of Tal Afar and Sinjar, which are still under the control of the IS militants, the source said, adding that the Kurdish forces are close to Mosul and the nearest area to Iraq's second largest city is al-Qawsiyat, which is about seven km northeast of the city.

However, the source refused to talk about the big battle to free Mosul from IS militants, saying that "it is too early to talk about Mosul, as there is a need for more preparations, which would take long time."

The security situation in Iraq began to drastically deteriorate on June 10, when bloody clashes broke out between the Iraqi security forces and the IS group, an al-Qaida offshoot, who took control of the country's northern province of Nineveh and later seized swathes of territories after Iraqi security forces abandoned their posts in other predominantly Sunni provinces. Endit