ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Kurdish Peshmerga forces sustained heavy casualties on Friday evening in a daylong battle with Islamic militants northwest of Mosul, losing 13 of their soldiers.
A source inside the 8th Brigade of the Kurdish forces told Rudaw that the Peshmargas were killed in Khiraptin village near Zumar as they tried to retake a series of bunkers from members of the Islamic State (IS).
The 8th Brigade was deployed to the area west of Mosul last month after the fall of the province to the Sunni militants.
The Peshmerga source who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the Kurds managed to reclaim the bunkers that were seized by the IS militants in a surprise attack on Friday morning.
Earlier in the day fighting broke out between both sides as the IS fighters launched an attack against the bases of the police force in charge of protecting oil installations in the region.
In a counter offensive by three Peshmerga brigades the Kurdish forces killed 20 militants and captured 30 prisoners, said Col. Karasul Gardi.
According to Col. Gardi of the Safeen Force, the Peshmerga advance was slowed down because the militants had taken position inside residential areas.
“Because families live there we cannot advance further,” said Col. Gardi.
In 2012, the town of Zumar near the Syrian border was at the center of a military standoff between the Iraqi army and Kurdish forces. Both Erbil and Baghdad claimed the strip of border.
The crisis was solved in political negotiations and the Kurdish forces remained in the area.
Since June however, much of the areas west and south of Mosul have been under IS control.
