ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi Army, with the help of US-led coalition warplanes, recaptured Mahana village in Makhmour on Wednesday. A Kurdish commander from the Iraqi army revealed to Rudaw that around three ISIS women suicide bombers alongside another 15 militants were inside the village and are all believed to have been targeted by the warplanes. The village contains 150 homes, said commander Zana, whose second name was not given. At dawn on Wednesday, the Iraqi army, backed by coalition airstrikes, resumed offensives against Islamic State militants on the Makhmour front in an operation that had been on hold for weeks. Clearing ISIS from villages surrounding Mosul is the first stage of the liberation of that city, Iraqi army officials told Rudaw. “At 5am on Wednesday, the Iraqi army launched an operation to retake Mahana and Kabarouk villages in Makhmour and the fight is still going on,” Commander Sami Harki told Rudaw.
