Kurdish troops launch offensive against IS in northern Iraq

Kurdish security forces on Wednesday launched a new offensive to free villages from Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq's northern province of Kirkuk, a Kurdish security source said.

The assault began in the early hours Wednesday when Kurdish security forces, known as Peshmerga, attacked a cluster of 13 IS-held villages in southwest of Daqouq, a town located some 180 km north of Iraqi capital Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The troops fiercely clashed with IS militants and have managed so far to free the villages of Zarga, Albu Najim, Albu Muhammed, Albu-Faraj and Albu Busal, the source said, adding that the troops will continue to free all villages in the area from the extremist militants.

A medical source from a main hospital of Azadi in Kirkuk, some 250 km north of Baghdad, told Xinhua that they received at least five bodies of Peshmerga members and admitted 16 others wounded by roadside bombs planted by IS militants.

The Kurds have been fighting IS militants since last August, when the extremists captured Gwer and nearby town of Makhmour as part of their June 10 blitzkrieg. The IS then posed an imminent threat to the Kurdish capital of Arbil as well as Kirkuk city. Endit