ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Peshmerga forces repulsed twin multi-pronged assaults by Islamic State (ISIS) fighters on liberated villages of the Khazir front, killing some 100 militants, including a leader, a Kurdish military official told Rudaw. Many of the dead bodies were left behind by the militants, according to Said Hazhar, a Peshmerga official, who added that the attack took place Friday night. "(We) inflicted great harm on ISIS assailants. Coalition warplanes played a great role in hitting the enemy and our Peshmerga soldiers with high morale hit the enemy," he said. At two different times on Friday night ISIS launched two consecutive assaults on the Peshmerga in the villages of Mufti and Wardak, Hazhar said. "The aim of ISIS is to avenge its great defeats at the hands of the Peshmerga on this front as they lost nine villages on the front," said a Peshmerga soldier. The assaults were spearheaded by Saad Anbari, a prominent ISIS leader who was killed. In the village of Wardak on the Khazir front, two ISIS militants were taken captive after they broke cover and surrendered to the Peshmerga. A third was killed. Last Monday the Peshmerga launched a major offense against ISIS on the Khazir front, southeast of Mosul. Some 140 extremists were killed, two surrendered to the Peshmerga and nine villages were liberated. Also, four Peshmerga were killed and 34 others wounded, said the Peshmerga commander of the Khazir front. A day later, the Peshmerga foiled an attack on their Khazir defense lines by ISIS, killing and wounding at least 24 militants, a military official told Rudaw.
