DOHUK
Around 200 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants have been killed in a major operation by Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces early on Wednesday, an official said.
"A wide-ranging military operation started in the east and west of the Mosul Dam against ISIL militants," Masrour Barzani, the head of the intelligence service of the Kurdish Regional Government told The Anadolu Agency.
The operation, which the official said was launched upon the instruction of President Masoud Barzani, encapsulates a 480 square kilometer area.
Masrour Barzani said anti-tank missiles were used in Wednesday's operation against the militants. The operation was supported by arms supplied by the international anti-ISIL coalition, including UK, Germany, France and Canada, he added.
"The terrorists attempted to perpetrate suicide attacks against peshmerga forces with 14 bomb-laden vehicles, but three of them were destroyed by the coalition's airstrikes and the others were neutralized with anti-tank missiles," Barzani said.
Stating that the operation was still ongoing and peshmerga forces are continuing their advance, he said, "The militants are running as they have no elbow room and they are hiding in some locations."
Barzani also said the arms supplied by the central Baghdad government were inadequate in fighting against the ISIL fighters.
Iraq has suffered a security vacuum since June last year, when ISIL stormed Mosul and declared what it called a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria.
The U.S. is leading an international coalition which has carried out numerous airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq and Syria.
