Kurdish fighters recapture town near Mosul from IS

In Iraq, Kurdish fighters said they have taken control of Bashiqa town near Mosul from Islamic State terror group as coalition forces pressed their offensive against the IS' last stronghold in Iraq. Masoud Barzani, President of the Iraqi Kurdish region, told US Defense Secretary Ash Carter that the Kurds succeeded in liberating Bashiqa from Islamic State yesterday. 

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters told reporters at the scene that they have entered Bashiqa. Journalists were not being allowed into the town, which lies 12 kilometers northeast of Mosul. The capture of Bashiqa will mark the removal of one more obstacle on the road to Mosul. Top US commander in Iraq, Lt Gen Stephen Townsend told that there has been considerable success in Bashiqa yesterday. 

Turkey have also joined the fight against IS



yesterday, directing artillery fire at terror group's positions in Bashiqa. The Iraqi Prime Minister had rejected an offer of Turkish involvement on Saturday. 

Meanwhile, Iraqi special forces are pushing into the district of Hamdaniya, from the south. According to the United Nations some 1.5 million residents remain trapped in Mosul. UN aid agencies said the fighting has so far forced about 6,000 to flee their homes.Meanwhile, according to media quotes Al Sumaria TV channel reporting that the so-called Deputy Wali of Mosul has been killed by an Iraqi air strike on Tel Keppe, an Iraqi town north of Mosul.

The website also cites Ghyath al-Sourji, spokesperson of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, saying that Iraqi army captured downtown Tel Keppe and liberated the neighborhoods of Somer and al-Askari.