Kurdish forces pound Islamist militants in town northeast of Baghdad

2^min

Kurdish peshmerga forces continued to pound Islamic State fighters' positions in Sadiyah, in Iraq's Diyala province, on Wednesday (August 27) in an attempt to wrest back control of the town which was captured by the Islamist militants more than a week ago.

Backed by U.S. air strikes, the Kurdish fighters were bombarding Sadiyah from the high ground of the Kubashi checkout to the north, while Iraqi government forces attacked the town from the south.

The Kurdish units were launching mortar bombs at their targets in the town, peshmerga video handout showed.

A multi-pronged attack on Sadiyah and nearby Jalawla was launched five days ago, peshmerga sources said.

Both towns are around two hours' drive northeast of the capital Baghdad which has been seen as under threat by the militants' advances.

Islamic State militants captured Jalawla on August 11 after weeks of clashes with Kurdish fighters, extending dramatic gains that have alarmed Iraq's Western allies.

The seizure of Jalawla came a day after a suicide bomber killed 10 Kurdish fighters there. The militants also took control of two nearby villages.

Jalawla is a strategic point, only 30 kilometres from the Iranian border. It has remained one of the deadliest flashpoints along the peshmerga's 1,000-kilometre front with Islamic State.

The militant fighters of Islamic State, a radical al Qaeda offshoot, have seized swathes of both Syria and Iraq in recent months, alarming regional and Western governments, and have vowed to establish a trans-border Sunni Muslim caliphate.

REUTERS

Kurdish forces pound Islamist militants in town northeast of Baghdad

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