Iraqi Kurdish fighters have launched a fresh assault on ISIL militants.<br /><br /> It comes as part of a campaign to recapture Mosul, ISIL’s de facto capital in Iraq, an official statement announced.<br /><br /> Backed up by US-led coalition air strikes, a Peshmerga commander they had managed to retake 11 villages en route to Gwer, the target of the operation, lying just 40kms from Mosul.<br /><br /> An estimated one million people remain in Iraq’s second largest city. As forces advance, at least 100,000 people have been displaced as fighters clear territory.<br /><br /> The battle for Mosul is expected later this year. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says its fall would mark the effective defeat of ISIL in the country.<br /><br /> Iraq’s army is advancing from the south. In July it captured Qayyara airfield (60kms from Mosul) which will serve as a staging post for the main offensive.<br />
