Kurdish, Iraqi forces in control of Mosul dam: spokesman

[August 18, 2014]  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Kurdish peshmerga fighters and Iraqi counter-terrorism forces have pushed Islamic State militants out of Mosul dam, state television reported on Monday.

The television station quoted Lieutenant-General Qasim Atta, a military spokesman, as saying the forces were backed by a joint air patrol. He did not give details. An independent verification was not immediately possible.

A Twitter account belonging to a media organization that supports the Islamic State said the dam was still under the group's full control.

On Sunday, a Mosul dam engineer who has been in close contact with Islamic State militants holding the dam said they had been placing roadside bombs along roads leading in and out of the complex in anticipation of an assault.

The latest northern Iraq offensive by Islamic State militants has rattled the Baghdad government and its Western allies, prompting the United States to mount the first airstrikes in the country since it withdrew in 2011.

(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Toby Chopra)

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