Wave of strikes as IS puts up tough defence of Mosul; 80 dead in Kirkuk

Iraqi forces advancing on Mosul faced stiff resistance on Monday from the Islamic State despite an unprecedented wave of air strikes by the US-led coalition in support of the week-old offensive.

Federal forces and Kurdish peshmerga fighters gained ground in several areas, but the jihadists were hitting back with shelling, sniper fire, suicide car bombs and booby traps.

Following a weekend visit to Iraq by US defence secretary Ashton Carter, American officials said the coalition was providing the most air support yet to the operation.

“One week into Mosul operation, all objectives met thus far, and more coalition air strikes than any other 7-day period of war against ISIL (IS),” Brett McGurk, the top US envoy to the 60-nation coalition, wrote on social media.

On the eastern side of Mosul, federal troops were battling IS on Monday in Qaraqosh, which used to be the largest Christian town in the country. Army forces entered the town for the third day running but armoured convoys deployed around it were met with shelling from inside.

A large IS assault on the city of Kirkuk to distract the Iraqi forces and their allies from the massive operation around Mosul lasted for two days and killed at least 80 people, mainly members of the Kurdish security forces who assumed control of the city in 2014 as Iraqi forces crumbled before an IS advance.