Kurdish forces announced a new push at dawn on Bashiqa, northeast of Mosul, where some 10,000 fighters are engaged in a huge assault to take the IS-held town. The jihadists on Friday staged a surprise assault on Iraq’s Kurdish-controlled city of Kirkuk, and two days later security forces were still tracking down IS fighters there. At least 46 people, most of them in the security forces, were also killed in the raid and ensuing clashes, which had almost completely ceased by late today. Life was returning to normal in some parts of Kirkuk, but security forces in southern neighbourhoods were still hunting for several gunmen. The attackers briefly seized the mayor’s office but security forces quickly regained the upper hand, he said.

Source: Indian Express October 23, 2016 22:07 UTC