Kurdish forces attack ISIS west of Kirkuk
Kurdish forces attacked ISIS positions around the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq at dawn on Monday, backed by heavy airstrikes from a U.S.-led coalition, Reuters reported.
Speaking to a local television channel near the frontline, Kirkuk governor Najmaldin Karim said the purpose of the offensive was to drive militants away from the city.
A Reuters reporter who went to the frontline on Monday said Kurdish peshmerga fighters were shelling ISIS positions and had advanced on several fronts to the west of the city, seizing villages in the Mala Abdullah and Tel Ward areas.
There was also heavy fighting between peshmerga and ISIS militants in Kharabarut, northwest of Kirkuk, according to a security source in the city.