Kurds launch new assault on Islamic State in northern Iraq
ERBIL - Kurdish forces attacked Islamic State insurgents in a cluster of villages in Iraq's northern province of Kirkuk on Wednesday, bent on securing territory they have gained in the course of rolling back the jihadists since last summer.
The assault began overnight south of Daquq, a town about 175 km (108 miles) north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. By mid-morning, Islamic State militants had been routed from the village of Albu Najm, according to a source within the peshmerga forces. Fighting continued in another village nearby, he said.
A Kurdish officer with the rank of captain was killed by an improvised explosive device, a source in the Kirkuk morgue said.
