Kurdish Forces Break ISIS Hold on Mosul Dam

A Kurdish peshmerga soldier skims a stone across the
Mosul dam lake on the Tigris river in northern Iraq

Kurdish forces in northern Iraq are in near complete control of Iraq's largest dam after ousting Islamic State (IS) militants, Kurdish officials say.

Ground forces supported by US air strikes launched the operation to take Mosul dam on Sunday morning.

Kurdish sources said they were still trying to clear mines and booby traps from the area round the dam, a process which could take several hours.

The strategically important facility was seized by IS militants on 7 August.

It supplies water and electricity to northern Iraq and there had been fears the IS militants could use it to flood areas downstream.

IS, formerly known as Isis, has seized a swathe of territory in recent months in Iraq and Syria.

If the recapture of the dam is confirmed, it will be the biggest reverse for IS since they launched their offensive in Iraq in June.

US special forces

The US said it had destroyed or damaged 19 vehicles belonging to IS militants as well as a checkpoint in strikes round the dam on Sunday.

Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd who until last month was Iraq's foreign minister, told the BBC that Peshmerga troops had encountered "fierce resistance" in the battle for the dam.

He said the next objective was to clear IS fighters from the Nineveh plain "to ensure the return of minorities".

Thousands of Christians and Yazidis have fled their homes there in the face of the IS advance.

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