Kurdish forces launch fresh thrust to retake Mosul from Islamic State

Kurdish Peshmerga forces launched a fresh attack on Islamic State (ISIS) forces early on Sunday as part of a campaign to capture Mosul, the militants' de facto capital in Iraq, Kurdish officials said.

The advance began after heavy shelling and air strikes by a United States-led coalition against IS forces, a Reuters correspondent reported from Wardak, 30 km (19 miles) southeast of Mosul. The militants fought back, firing mortars at the advancing troops and detonating at least two car bombs.

A Peshmerga commander said a dozen villages had been taken from the ultra-hardline Sunni militants as Kurdish forces headed towards Gwer, the target of the operation, 40 km (25 miles) southeast of Mosul.