ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Peshmerga forces repulsed an Islamic State (ISIS) attack on the town of Shingal, west of Mosul, on Sunday, killing five militants and destroying two vehicles, a Kurdish official confirmed.
“ISIS militants fired mortars at the Peshmerga, followed by Doshka machine gun fire trying to infiltrate our outposts,” said Mam Qaual, a Peshmerga commander on the front. “The attackers were defeated.”
The Peshmerga forcefully responded to the mortar shells “with heavy weapons, killing five militants," Qaual added.
He explained that the Peshmerga did not suffer casualties.
This is the first such confrontation between the militant group and the Peshmerga in Shingal since mid-August when Kurdish forces repelled another attack, killing 60 militants.
Sunday’s ISIS attack comes a month after Peshmerga forces captured 12 villages from the extremist group on the Makhmour-Gwer and Khazir fronts in the Nineveh plains that saw many militants killed and caused a major blow to the terrorist group across multiple battlefields.
ISIS has recently suffered huge losses in Iraq as three strategic areas in southern Mosul and northern Salahaddin province were reclaimed over the weekend – Shargat, Dolab Jazira, and Baghdad Jazira.
A major offensive against the group in their stronghold of Mosul is expected to be launched in October.
