Kurdish forces launch battle to retake Iraq's Sinjar town

By Isabel Coles NEAR SINJAR TOWN, Iraq (Reuters) - Backed by U.S. air strikes, Kurdish forces said they captured several villages in an offensive on Thursday to retake the Iraqi town of Sinjar from Islamic State militants who overran it more than a year ago. Islamic State's killing and enslaving of thousands of the northern town's Yazidi residents focused international attention on the group's violent campaign to impose its radical ideology and prompted Washington to launch its air offensive. Op