MESOP NEW : Peshmerga Forces Free Key Kurdish Town of Jalawla

KIRKUK – BasNews 23 Nov 2014 – Early on Sunday morning Iraqi Kurdish forces, with the assistance of coalition airstrikes, re-took the strategic Kurdish town of Jalawla in Diyala province, northern Iraq.

According to a source in the Peshmerga on the Jalawla front line, the Kurdish forces attack on Jalawla (and air strikes on Sa’adia) has been successful to the extent that they now control about 90% of the town. Secretary-General of the Ministry of Peshmerga, Jabbar Yawar has told BasNews that at 04:30 am Sunday, Peshmerga forces, with the support of United States warplanes, started to attack Islamic State positions inside Jalawla.

“Since early Sunday morning Peshmerga forces alongside the Iraqi army and US jets have been attacking Jalawla from a number of fronts. Currently the Peshmerga are in control of the majority of the town,’ Yawar said.

He also said the Sunday operation will clear the entire area of IS insurgents. – “Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army attacked IS positions from Kobashi [a village north of Jalawla],” added Yawar. The Secretary-General of the Ministry of Peshmerga said that so far three Peshmerga soldiers have lost their lives in Sunday’s battle and more injured. They have no information in regards to the number of Islamic State fighters killed.Meanwhile, the anonymous Peshmerga source claimed that only a few neighborhoods of Jalawla are left to be taken from IS insurgents. He said that US jets have been shelling IS positions inside Jalawla since the early morning and Peshmerga forces started to attack from the ground. Jalawla is a strategic town in eastern Diyala province, northern Iraq. The majority of its residents are Kurdish and is a disputed region between federal Iraq and the KRG.