Mon Oct 17, 2016 16:03:21
The Kurdish Peshmerga forces have liberated five villages on the Gwer front southeast of Islamic States' (ISIS) Mosul stronghold.
They also surrounded another village the Iraqi Defense Ministry stated on its website.
Footage shows Iraqi and Kurdish forces, backed by US-led airstrikes, launched coordinated military operations early on Monday as the long-awaited fight to wrest the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL , IS and Daesh) got underway.
According to Kurdish reports, Peshmerga forces now control the main road linking Mosul with the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital, Erbil, further to the east.
Also The Islamic State group's (ISIS) Aamaq news agency says fighter jets from the US-led coalition have destroyed Hurriyeh bridge on the Tigris River that links the eastern neighbourhoods of Mosul with western parts of the city.
The attack on the bridge on Saturday night came before an offensive against ISIS in the city was due to begin.
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