Kurdish forces of the Peshmerga in cooperation with the Iraqi army have regained ten new villages in Kirkuk province after fierce clashes with militants of the ISIL terrorist group

Kurdish forces of the Peshmerga in cooperation with the Iraqi army have regained ten new villages in Kirkuk province after fierce clashes with militants of the ISIL terrorist group, military sources said on Wednesday.

The clashes started on Tuesday midnight and stopped on Wednesday with the Peshmerga and Iraqi forces regaining ten villages.

“The Peshmerga and Iraqi army forces have launched an extended military campaign against ISIL terrorists in the countryside of Kirkuk. The strategic operation led the killing of more than 40 ISIL terrorists, and our forces regained ten villages,” a Peshmerga official told ARA News in Erbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

“The operation was concentrated in the western countryside of Kirkuk, with the support of the US-led coalition,” the source added.

The Kurdish Peshmerga forces, backed by Iraqi army, have attacked ISIL strongholds in the Hawija district west of Kirkuk.

“The attack took place from three sides, which included Daquq, al-Kharz and Maktab Khalid,” the Peshmerga official said.

The source added that dozens of ISIL militants are still stranded inside Hawija.

“The terror group suffers an apparent collapse in its defense lines,” the Peshmerga spokesman told ARA News. “ISIL has been losing ground under our blows. We will soon storm the group’s remaining strongholds in Hawija.”