Ahlul Bayt News Agency - Early morning on Wednesday August 26th, Kurdish Peshmerga forces, with the support of international coalition fighter jets, started a intense operation in southern Kirkuk Province. Focusing on Daquq and Khurmatu towns, so far several nearby strategic villages have been freed.
According to information obtained from Peshmerga forces by BasNews, the attack started early Wednesday morning and aims to retake about 20 villages in the Daquq and Khurmatu areas of southern Kirkuk in northern Iraq. Peshmerga led ground attacks supported above by anti-IS airstrikes.
“So far a number of strategic villages have been taken and IS militants are fleeing the area. The Peshmerga won’t be going into the villages, due to threat of IEDs,” said a Peshmerga source in the area.
The source said that when IS militants leave an area, they normally plant IEDs to prevent Peshmerga progressing. Kurdish forces won’t go into those areas until they’re cleared by special units.
Due to the airstrikes, a large number of IS militants have been killed and injured and the clashes are continuing.
A Peshmerga commander who didn’t want to be identified, said that the operation will continue until the area is fully under their control and safe, Bas News reported.
He said that the Peshmerga have so far progressed about 10 km and about 20 villages have been surrounded.
Southern Kirkuk and the town of Hawija are regarded as the strongest bases of IS militants in Iraq outside Mosul.
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