DHAKA: Kurdish forces have carried out new attacks on positions of so-called Islamic State north-east of Mosul to retake the town of Bashiqa.

Kurdish Peshmerga commanders said they made large advances into IS territory and secured part of a highway that will limit IS’s freedom of movement.

In an attempt to divert attention from the Mosul offensive, IS militants attacked a town in the west on Sunday (October 23), reports the BBC.

The Iraqi military says the situation in Rutba is now “under control”.

The town, in Iraq’s western Anbar province, had been under IS control since 2014, but was taken back into government hands four months ago.

As the pressure builds on IS in and around Mosul, the group has been counter-attacking with suicide bombers and launching assaults in other areas.

The top US commander in Iraq, Lt Gen Stephen Townsend told reporters there had been “considerable success” in Bashiqa on Sunday.

But he cautioned “I have not received a report that says every house has been cleared, every Daesh [IS fighter] has been killed and every IED [roadside bomb] has been removed.”

Journalists have not yet been allowed into the town.

Reuters TV footage, shot from a nearby village, showed smoke rising from Bashiqa as Kurdish fighters launched attacks against IS with mortars and machine guns.

Bashiqa is close to a military base where Turkish troops are training Sunni and Kurdish fighters.

BDST: 2157 HRS, OCT 23, 2016
BD