Iraqi Kurds claim more territory after breaking siege of Sinjar


A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter stands guard in Zumar, Nineveh province December 18, 2014. REUTERS/Ari Jalal

DOHUK, Iraq (Reuters) - Kurdish forces claimed to have seized more territory on Friday after breaking the siege of Sinjar mountain in what they called their biggest victory yet in their war against Islamic State.

A senior Kurdish official said the peshmerga forces had driven the Sunni Islamist militants out of Snuny district north of the mountain on Friday, bringing them closer to retaking the entire Sinjar area on the border with Syria in northwest Iraq.Islamic State captured huge swathes of Syria and Iraq earlier this year, killing or driving out thousands of Shi'ites and non-Muslims from the region, but the tide of fighting has been reversed in northern Iraq.

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