Peshmerga offensive closes in on Islamic State-held Mosul
Some 2,000 fighters enter the town of Bashiqa as a separate offensive is launched on Islamic State's base in Syria.
Monday 7 November 2016 12:02, UK
Kurdish Peshmerga forces have attacked an IS-held town northeast of Mosul as the campaign against the jihadist group's Iraqi stronghold enters its fourth week.
The first wave of a 2,000-strong Kurdish Peshmerga force entered Bashiqa on Monday in armoured vehicles, in Humvees and on foot.
The town, 10 miles from Mosul on the Nineveh plains, was earlier hit by artillery fire.
Lieutenant-Colonel Safeen Rasoul said: "Our aim is to take control and clear out all the Daesh (IS) militants. Our estimates are there are about 100 still left and 10 suicide cars."
:: Mosul satellite images reveal IS defences as assault continues
IS fighters have tried to slow the offensive on Mosul with numerous suicide car bomb attacks. There have been 100 on the eastern front and 140 in the south, say commanders.
Troops inside Mosul have also been waging a fierce urban war with IS in the east of the city.
Officers say militants have mingled with the city's population and are carrying out ambush attacks on Iraqi troops.
A Kurdish official told Reuters news agency that militants had been using drones strapped with explosives, artillery shells filled with chlorine, and mustard gas and snipers.
Mosul - the largest city under IS control in Iraq or Syria - has been held since the Iraqi army was driven out in June 2014.
The campaign to recapture it involves tens of thousands of soldiers, security forces, Shia militia groups and Peshmerga fighters, backed by US-led airstrikes.
It comes as 30,000 US-backed fighters in Syria launched a campaign - dubbed Euphrates Anger - to recapture Raqqa, the de facto capital of the IS caliphate.
Raqqa, held by IS for nearly three years, is reportedly home to some of the group's top leaders and an estimated 5,000 militants.