|
MOSUL, Iraq, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces have freed four villages in the south of the Islamic State (IS) major stronghold of Mosul on Tuesday, a security source said.
The troops, backed by the U.S.-led coalition air strikes, launched an assault at dawn on the villages scattered near the IS-held town of Qayyara, some 50 km south of Mosul, the security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
They have so far freed the villages of al-Huwish, al-Jaw'ana, Jubla and al-Ghaziyah, with the village of Jad'a still being surrounded.
The source did not give the exact number of casualties, only saying dozens of IS militants were killed in the battles.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi Kurdish fighters repelled a pre-dawn attack from the IS militants outside the town of Sinjar, some 100 km west of Mosul, Brigadier General Luqman al-Khansouri, commander of the town's security forces, told Xinhua.
The Kurdish security forces, backed by coalition warplanes, killed at least 27 IS militants and destroyed several vehicles, Khansouri said.
The Iraqi army and the Kurdish security forces, known as Peshmerga, are now fighting to seize back positions around Mosul amid a major offensive to liberate the whole city.
Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, has been under IS control since June 2014, when the Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, giving opportunities for IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.
