ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Peshmerga forces captured two towns near Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS) on Wednesday, following a major offensive on Iraq’s second-largest city involving Iraqi troops on the ground and jets providing air support.
A Peshmerga source told Rudaw that the Kurdish troops managed to capture the towns of Wanki and Aski in Mosul. He said the offensive continues east and west of the strategic Mosul dam.
“With the help of Iraqi fighter jets, the Peshmerga are on the offensive and ISIS is on the defensive,” he said.
The Peshmerga are fighting with heavy weapons, Rudaw reporter Hevidar Ahmad said from the Zumar frontlines.
He said 15 militants had been killed and four Peshmerga wounded in the fighting so far, and that the Kurdish soldiers were not critically hurt.
A major assault involving Peshmerga forces, Iraqi troops and jets and coalition forces is expected in the spring. Wednesday’s multipronged attack was thought to be the precursor of the big offensive to come.
Meanwhile the Iraqi Army’s Brigadier Qasim Mohammadi announced his troops had repulsed an overnight ISIS attack on the city of Ramadi in Anbar province, in which 19 militants were killed.
Brigadier Kazim Fahdawi, the head of Anbar police, reported that ISIS had intended to attack Ramadi with seven car bombs, but the plan was foiled by Iraqi troops.
ISIS rules most of the cities and towns in the Sunni-majority Anbar province, Iraq’s largest.
“Only a quarter of Anbar province is in the Iraqi government’s control,” said the police commander.
In Diyala province, meanwhile, a helicopter was seen landing in ISIS-held areas.
“We saw an unknown helicopter land in ISIS-controlled areas,” said the head of the Diyala provincial council.
“The security forces and Shiite militias saw a helicopter land today in the ISIS-controlled areas near Diyala,” he said. “After about 30 minutes it took off again,” he explained, adding that officials in Baghdad announced they had not sent any aircraft to the area.”
“We have no information whether the helicopter transferred ISIS militants or brought in ammunition,” the provincial council chief said.
There have been reports of aircraft landing in ISIS-controlled areas, presumably bringing in supplies to the militants or helping transport fighters.
Meanwhile, the defense ministry in Baghdad announced that Iraqi warplanes had carried out 340 strikes against ISIS targets over the last 20 days.
