Raed Asad Ahmed
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – One Peshmerga soldier was killed and six wounded in fighting Thursday in which the Kurdish forces ejected Islamic State (IS) militants from parts of Jalawla, only to have the jihadists back in control following an offensive hours later.
The fighting in Jalawla came a day after IS fighters captured three Kurdish soldiers and a pharmaceuticals factory hear Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city which has been in rebel hands since last month.
Early Thursday Peshmarga forces completely pushed out IS fighters from the districts of Tajnid and Wahdah in Jalawla, a town in Diyala Province which has been in IS hands for weeks. Intense clashes lasted for seven hours, in which a Kurdish soldier was killed and six wounded.
But later Thursday, the jihadists launched a counter offensive with mortar shells, recapturing areas lost that morning.
Meanwhile, a source within the Peshmarga forces told Rudaw the militants had captured three Peshmarga fighters near Mosul on Wednesday night.
“Three members of the Peshmarga forces were captured after clashes with IS militants near the Badush junction in Mosul," said the source.
That same day, IS uploaded a propaganda video on the Internet claiming the “liberation” of a state-owned pharmaceutical factory. The video also showed a captured armed vehicle and three blindfolded men in military uniforms, appearing to be the three captive Peshmarga fighters. The video claimed that large amounts of medicines had been seized by the fighters.
The Peshmarga source confirmed that Kurdish forces had moved out of the area.
“The Peshmarga forces withdrew from three checkpoints in Badush and a medicine factory in that area. The withdrawal was a tactical move because the area is too far from the Peshmarga stronghold and cannot be defended," the source said.
