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Kurdish forces free town from IS militants near Iraq's Mosul

Xinhua, November 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

Kurdish security forces, known as Peshmerga, freed Monday a town from the Islamic State (IS) militants near the city of Mosul, a Kurdish security source said.

The Peshmerga forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, started in the morning their operation to storm the town of Bashiqah, some 30 km northeast of Mosul, and managed to seize the town after fierce clashes during the day, the source from Peshmerga told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"About 10 suicide bombers have blown themselves up inside Bashiqah after the Peshmerga fighters surrounded their hideouts," the source said.

Sporadic clashes are still underway against small groups of the IS militants in a few pockets at the outskirts of the town, while explosive experts were defusing many landmines and booby traps planted earlier by the IS group, the source said.

The battles in Bashiqah came after a three-week massive offensive to dislodge the extremist militants from the city of Mosul, which represents their last major stronghold in Iraq.

In eastern Mosul, the commandos of the Counter-Terrorism Service continued their fighting with the IS militants in the residential areas, but were confronted by stiff resistance from the IS militants, a source from the Operations Command of Nineveh Liberation told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The battles in Mosul and surrounding areas pushed the number of civilians who were displaced from their homes to around 34,000 since the start of the military offensive on Oct. 17, according to the recent report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

On Oct. 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city.

Since then, the Iraqi security forces have inched to the eastern fringes of Mosul and made progress on other routes around the city, preparing for a major battle to storm the city and drive out IS militants.

Mosul, some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under the IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions. Endit