Iraqi tv: Pershmerga's retook Mosul dam

Kurdish fighters at the town of Bashiqa, northeast of Mosul. (AFP)

Kurdish peshmerga fighters and Iraqi counter-terrorism forces have pushed Islamic State militants out of Mosul dam, Iraqi state television reported on Monday. The television station quoted Lieutenant-General Qasim Atta, a military spokesman, as saying the forces were backed by a joint air patrol. He did not give details. An independent verification was not immediately possible.
A Twitter account belonging to a media organization that supports the Islamic State said the dam was still under the group's full control. The Peshmergas started an offensive on Saturday to take control of the country’s largest dam at Mosul, which has been in IS hands for over a week. The peshmerga's were helped bu U.S. airstrikes. US Central Command in Washington said the air strikes targeted Islamist militants near the dam and the Kurdish capital Arbil. “The nine air strikes conducted thus far destroyed or damaged four armoured personnel carriers, seven armed vehicles, two Humvees and an armoured vehicle,” it said in a statement, adding: “All aircraft exited the strike areas safely.”