Iraqi and Kurdish forces advanced on areas near Mosul Sunday as part of an operation to retake the northern city from Daesh. Those gains came after Iraqi and Kurdish forces launched an offensive against the nearby town of Bashiqa. The Kurdish forces, known as peshmerga, said they “cordoned off” eight villages northeast of Mosul and are now less than 9 kilometres from its outskirts. In western Iraq, Daesh militants stormed into the town of Rutba, unleashing three suicide car bombs that were blown up before hitting their targets, according to the spokesman for the Joint Military Command, Brig. But Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told Carter on Saturday that Mosul was an “Iraqi battle.”The forces taking part in the Mosul offensive include Iraqi troops, the peshmerga, Sunni tribal fighters and state-sanctioned Shiite militias.

Source: thestar October 23, 2016 19:39 UTC