KIRKUK, Kurdistan Region—Kurdish forces launched a major offensive against the Islamic State (ISIS), advancing a dozen miles south of Kirkuk and taking control of several villages, Kirkuk police chief said. “We advanced 20 kilometers and we keep advancing further,” Brigadier Sarhad Qadir told Rudaw on Monday. “But due to booby traps and roadsides bomb we move cautiously.” “The ISIS militants show no resistance and they have left behind many dead,” he added. Qadir said that the Smailawa village and a nearby ridge were retaken by the Peshmerga backed by the security forces and police. A Rudaw correspondent on the frontline said that the Peshmerga offensive started in coordination with an intense bombing of ISIS positions by the coalition fighter jets. Kurdish military officials said that the Peshmerga are advancing on the villages of Mala Abdulla, Talaward and other ISIS strongholds south of Kirkuk. A commander said the Peshmerga have seized a large ISIS weapons arsenal.
