KIRKUK, Kurdistan Region—Kurdish Peshmerga forces entered the town of Jalawla in northern Diyala Sunday morning after they launched a major assault on the Islamic State (ISIS), said Rudaw correspondent in the area.
The Peshmerga are now in control of several quarters of Jalawla and that ISIS militants are on the retreat, said our correspondent.
A Peshmerga commander from Jalawla said that his forces have controlled five neighborhoods of the town and two nearby villages of Sayid Ahmed and Sayid Jabir.
He said that the ISIS stronghold of Tawhid is also surrounded by Kurdish forces.
The commander said that parts of the town taken by Peshmerga forces Sunday morning are packed with bombs left behind by ISIS and that special bomb disposal teams have been brought in to diffuse them.
The major attack began on the ground following a heavy bombardment of ISIS positions in and around Jalawla by coalition fighter jets and Peshmerga artillery.
Kurdish forces have been battling the ISIS around Jalawla for more than three months after the town fell to the radical group in June following the collapse of the Iraqi army.
Meanwhile in the past three days Peshmerga forces have advanced in areas south of Kirkuk, particularly in Kharabarut village where they killed and captured a number of ISIS militants.
