MILITARY NEARS MOSUL AS ISIL STRIKES IN WEST

Iraqi and Kurdish forces advanced on a town near Mosul on Sunday as part of an operation to retake the northern city from ISIL, which staged an assault in western Iraq that appeared to be another diversionary attack.

The Kurdish peshmerga said they “cordoned off ” eight villages northeast of Mosul and are now less than nine kilometres from its outskirts. They said the cordoned off area measures about 100 square kilometres, and that they also secured a “significant stretch” of highway.

The statement said eight car bombs were destroyed in the operation, including three by U.S.-led coalition aircraft, and “dozens” of militants were killed.

Those gains came after Iraqi and Kurdish forces launched an offensive against the nearby town of Bashiqa.

In western Iraq, ISIL militants stormed into the town of Rutba, unleashing three suicide car bombs that were blown up before hitting their targets.