Iraq's Kurdish peshmerga forces wrapped up an operation east of the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) group's northern hub of Mosul Monday (August 15th) after recapturing nine villages, AFP reported.
The Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) said the operation launched before dawn on Sunday "had achieved its key objectives".
The operation involved around 5,500 peshmerga fighters backed by coalition airstrikes, and reconquered an area of 120 square kilometres.
The area, near al-Khazir, lies near the main road between Mosul and Erbil.
The KRSC claimed that in the course of the two-day operation, 140 ISIL fighters were killed and 14 car bombs were destroyed.
A peshmerga officer said at a news conference that four members of the Kurdish forces were killed and 34 others were wounded during the operation.
