Kurds take ground from Islamic State in north Iraq, backed by airstrikes from coalition.

Kurdish forces said they drove Islamic State militants out of villages near the oil city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq on Wednesday (September 30), in an offensive backed by airstrikes from the coalition. The U.S. military said airstrikes against Islamic State positions began several days before the ground operation, and the U.S. Central Command released video it said showed airstrikes near Hawijah on September 23 and 26. The assault consolidated Kurdish control over Kirkuk and brought the peshmerga