Baghdad: Kurdish forces in northern Iraq have launched an offensive to retake Sinjar, a strategic town near the Syrian border, from Islamic State militants.
The campaign is supported by air strikes by the US-led coalition. Recapturing Sinjar would effectively cut off the supply line between the IS strongholds of Raqqa and Mosul. When the town fell to IS last year, tens of thousands of people from the Yazidi religious minority were trapped after fleeing up Mount Sinjar.
Hundreds of men were killed and thousands of Yazidi women and girls captured and used as sex slaves.
The attack on Sinjar was one of the reasons the US began air strikes against IS positions in Iraq in August 2014, amid a warning of genocide.
It expanded its air campaign into Syria the following month. Yazidis, whose religion includes elements of several faiths, are considered infidels by IS. The offensive by Kurdish forces began in earnest at dawn, with a series of coalition air strikes sending up plumes of smoke around the town of Sinjar.
It lies at the foot of a rugged mountain of the same name, and is strategically placed near the border with Syria.
Kurdish Peshmerga forces began opening up with rocket fire, and their troops started moving down to join an advance on the ground.
Kurdish forces have controlled part of the town since an attack months ago. But IS militants put up strong resistance, leading to a prolonged stalemate.
The Kurds are clearly determined to win Sinjar back. They are calling this "Operation Free Sinjar" and say they are throwing 7,500 fighters into the battle.