ERBIL, Kurdistan Region- Peshmerga artillery forces shelled ISIS militants in a fierce battle with the Shiite militia known as Hashd al-Shabi in the village of Bashir, Kirkuk province. Hunar Ahmed, A Rudaw correspondent on the scene, reported on Saturday the Shiite fighters, part of the People’s Mobilization Forces, had been struggling for four days to take control of Bashir, located 25 km south of Kirkuk city. “The Shiite militants deployed an estimated 4,000 gunmen and asked the Peshmerga to help them,” said Ahmed. In what was described as intense fighting, Peshmerga bombing helped thwart ISIS militants in a counter-attack on Bashir. Last week, Kurdish forces backed by coalition airstrikes launched a large-scale campaign that managed to clear ISIS from large tracts of territory south of Kirkuk and its oilfields.
