Insight - Kurds dream of independence as they defend perilous border

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters take a rest on the outskirts of Mosul January 30, 2015. REUTERS/Ari Jalal

VALLEY OF THE CROWS, northern Iraq, Feb 4 (Reuters) - The black banner of the Islamic State, fixed to a shack within sight of this frontline, is evidence of the existential threat menacing the Kurds from across the 1,000-km long frontier.

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are digging trenches and building defence berms in Wadi al-Ghorab (Valley Of The Crows), less than 2 km away from the IS-held Sultan Abdullah village, which demarcates the new border of their autonomous region.