AhlulBayt News Agency - Iraqi Kurdish and Turkmen Shiite forces have recaptured the town of Bashir from the so-called Islamic State insurgent group, officials said on Sunday.
Pressure for an operation to retake the town had grown in March after IS launched a chemical attack from Bashir on the nearby town of Taza that killed at least three children.
Kurdish peshmerga forces and Turkmen Shiites from the Popular Mobilisation units, a militia umbrella organisation, took part in the operation, officials said.
The Iraqi volunteer forces, known as Popular Mobilization Forces, fully cleared al-Bashir from ISIS terrorists on Saturday night, Abbas Abutabikh, the commander of Imam Ali (AS) Battalion, said in a statement.
He said that after a “heroic battle by the brave fighters” of Imam Ali (AS) and al-Abbas (AS) battalions against the Daesh militants, the town was liberated.
Peshmerga and Turkmen forces completed operations to recapture Bashir as well as several nearby villages, said Asso Mamand, an official from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Party.
Abu Ridha al-Najjar, a Turkmen Shiite commander, also confirmed that Bashir was recaptured, as did the Kurdistan Regional Security Council.
Bashir, which is a Turkmen town south of Kirkuk, had been under control of ISIS terrorists since June 2014.
Click Here for more Photos
/129
