Iraq announces start of offensive to retake Mosul

Peshmerga forces are seen in the east of Mosul to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq, October 17, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer

EAST OF MOSUL/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi government forces launched a U.S.-backed offensive on Monday to drive Islamic State from the northern city of Mosul, a high-stakes battle to retake the militants' last major stronghold in the country.

Two years after the jihadists seized the city of 1.5 million people and declared a caliphate from there encompassing tracts of Iraq and Syria, a force of some 30,000 Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Sunni tribal fighters began to advance.