ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi forces backed by coalition airstrikes expelled Islamic State (ISIS) militants in the village of Kharaib Jabr near Makhmour on Sunday quicker than expected with no causalities, officers told Rudaw.
“The situation is calm now and fighting has ceased since we completely captured the village an hour ago,” said Shkak Omar, a Kurdish officer in Iraqi army. “Many dead bodies of Daesh gunmen are left inside the village.”
According to Omar, ISIS militants who escaped to nearby villages have set on fire car tires to conceal their locations in the smoke. “Black smoke is all over the sky,” he said.
It was planned to recapture Kharaib Jabr within two days “because we were expecting more resistance from Daesh (ISIS) but it only took hours for them to run away from the village,” he added.
This is the third major operation by Iraqi forces on the Makhmour front since an Iraqi army brigade arrived in February as part of preparations for the long-anticipated Mosul offensive.
“Today’s operation was the fastest in the past few months and our soldiers were well prepared,” Major Amin Shekhani told Rudaw.
A US Marines base also has been set up, providing artillery fire and coordinating such operations with Kurdish and Iraqi troops.
Kharaib Jabr, which is on a key road to another strategic point, Haji Ali, was under intense shelling by Iraqi tanks and heavy weapons as well as US-led coalition air jets since 5am on Sunday.
Maj. Shekhani reported that the operation captured about 75 square kilometers of territory from ISIS, pushing the group further towards Mosul.
Most civilians from the area fled two years ago and some in recent months for fear of the major offensive for Mosul.
The military says that there are hundreds of homes most of which remain empty while in some villages civilians are trapped.
“The number of houses in the village is estimated at 300 but it is not clear how many people are inside,” A Kurdish officer in the Iraqi army who wanted to be identified by his first name Zana, told Rudaw in the early hours of the offensive.
Maj. Shekhani claimed that many villagers had escaped prior to Sunday’s operation and that fire from the village came from ISIS militants.
“We figured out soon that everyone inside the village had a gun to fight us," he added.
An officer said that the ultimate target of the operation is Garaya and its air base.
Gayara is 60km south of Mosul and once had a population of 250,000.
The airport known as “Saddam airbase” is located west of Gayara and was used by the former regime during the eight-year Iraq-Iran war.
