ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — At least one Kurdish fighter was killed and four others slain or captured on Friday when they were attacked by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militias near the border town of Rabia in northwest Iraq, a Kurdish military official said.
Lt. Muhammad Amin Muhammad of the Spilk Peshmerga Command said, "We know that one of the five Peshmerga fighters was martyred, but we don’t know whether the other four were also martyred or taken as prisoners by ISIS militants."
Peshmerga forces also suffered heavy losses last week in multiple offensives against ISIS, which has taken over Mosul and other Sunni-dominated areas.
After a seven-hour battle on Thursday, the Peshmerga captured two key districts in Jalawla in Diyala province, which has been controlled by ISIS for more than a month.
However, Kurdish forces were only able to hold the areas for a few hours because they ran out of ammunition and had no backup troops to defend against an ISIS counterattack.
Mustafa Seid Qadir, Minister of Peshmerga in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), visited Jalawla to investigate the battle. Peshmarga fighters reportedly killed 38 ISIS militants and suffered 13 deaths and 40 injuries.
ISIS fighters also captured three Kurdish soldiers and a pharmaceuticals factory near Mosul on Wednesday, forcing the Peshmerga to withdraw from three checkpoints.
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