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| Kurdish forces 'retake Mosul dam' from IS militants | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Kurdish forces in northern Iraq have taken control of Iraq's largest dam after its capture by Islamic State (IS) militants, Kurdish officials say. | Kurdish forces in northern Iraq have taken control of Iraq's largest dam after its capture by Islamic State (IS) militants, Kurdish officials say. |
| Kurdish ground forces supported by US air strikes launched the operation to take Mosul dam on Sunday morning. | Kurdish ground forces supported by US air strikes launched the operation to take Mosul dam on Sunday morning. |
| The strategically important dam, which supplies water and electricity to northern Iraq, was seized by IS militants on 7 August. | The strategically important dam, which supplies water and electricity to northern Iraq, was seized by IS militants on 7 August. |
| IS has seized a swathe of territory in recent months in Iraq and Syria. | IS has seized a swathe of territory in recent months in Iraq and Syria. |
| The US said it destroyed or damaged 19 vehicles belonging to IS militants as well as a checkpoint in strikes round the dam on Sunday. | |
| Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd who until last month was Iraq's foreign minister, told the BBC that Peshmerga troops encountered "fierce resistance" in the battle for the dam. | |
| He said the next objective was to clear IS fighters from the Nineveh plain "to ensure the return of minorities". | |
| Thousands of Christians and Yazidis have fled their homes there in the face of the IS advance. |