Peshmerga forces are seen on armoured vehicles as they are on their way to Kirkuk for the planned Havice Operation during an operation to retake Iraq's Mosul from Daesh terrorists, in Nineveh, Iraq on October 21, 2016. Feriq Fereç - Anadolu Agency
MOSUL, Iraq: Kurdish Peshmerga forces have captured another three villages in Mosul as part of an ongoing offensive to oust Islamic State terrorists from the northern Iraqi city.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency on Sunday, Kurdish military chief of staff Jamal Mohammad Omer said Peshmerga forces were advancing on the Bashiqa and Nawran fronts north of Mosul.
“Our forces have seized three villages and are advancing on other areas,” he said.
Last week, the Iraqi army, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, launched a much-anticipated offensive to retake Mosul, the last Islamic State stronghold in northern Iraq.
Islamic State captured Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in mid-2014 before overrunning large swathes of territory in the country’s northern and western regions.
Recent months have seen the Iraqi army, backed by local allies on the ground and a U.S.-led air coalition, retake much territory seized by Islamic State in 2014. Nevertheless, the terrorist group remains in control of several parts of the country, including Mosul.
In recent weeks, the army and its allies have staged a gradual advance on the city, which officials in Baghdad have vowed to recapture by year’s end.
