Kurds take 10 villages from Islamic State in north Iraq

Kurdish forces backed by U.S.-led coalition air strikes drove Islamic State militants out of 10 villages in Iraq's Kirkuk province on Wednesday in an offensive to secure their territory in the north, Kurdish military sources said. By evening, Kurdish forces had taken an area of around 24 square km, the sources said. The Kurdistan region's Security Council said up to 2,000 peshmerga had participated in the attack and dozens of ISIL fighters were killed.