Iraqi kurds battle Islamic state fighters

Peshmerga forces take back towns near Mosul
dam, seized by fighters earlier this month , as US
air strikes continue .
Kurdish military forces, known as peshmerga ,
have retaken three towns on the way to Iraq 's
largest dam after a series of US air strikes .
Officials told Al Jazeera that the peshmerga
captured Tel Skuf, about 15 km east of the Mosul
dam, from Islamic State fighters early on
Sunday morning.
The town is one of several seized by the Islamic
State - a group of self - declared jihadists who
have captured large swaths of land in northern
Iraq and neighbouring Syria .
Peshmerga forces have also retaken the towns of
Ashrafia and Batnaya .
Their progress was reportedly slowed down by
explosive devices , including homemade bombs and
landmines , placed by the Islamic State .
The US launched air strikes near the cities of
Mosul and Erbil to push back the fighters, but
the scope of the strikes has been limited .
"They' re meant to target fighters, weapons and
armoured vehicles the Islamic State fighters
seized from the Iraqi army - originally American
weaponry, " said Al Jazeera' s Jane Arraf ,
reporting from Erbil , the capital of the Kurdish
autonomous region. "While they 're able to take
out major targets, they don' t manage to get rid
of fighters around or inside the facilities. "
The Mosul dam fell under control of Islamic State
fighters earlier this month. Control of the dam
could give the fighters the ability to flood cities
and cut off vital water and electricity supplies .
'Armoured vehicles destroyed '
Air strikes on Saturday targeted positions near
Erbil and the Mosul dam .
"The nine air strikes conducted thus far
destroyed or damaged four armoured personnel
carriers, seven armed vehicles , two Humvees and
an armoured vehicle , " the US Central Command
said in a statement .
The Central Command said the strikes were aimed
at supporting humanitarian efforts in Iraq and
protecting US personnel and facilities there.
Related : Kurdish rivals unite to fight Islamic
State
After the Islamic State 's capture of the northern
city of Mosul in June, its swift push to the
borders of Iraqi Kurdistan alarmed Baghdad
and last week drew the first US air strikes on
Iraq since the withdrawal of US troops in 2011.
In the worst violence since the peak of bloodshed
in 2006- 2007, Islamic State fighters have taken
over large parts of the west and north of
Iraq, killing hundreds , forcing hundreds of
thousands to flee for their lives and threatening
ethnic Kurds in their autonomous province .
The Islamic State has also seized large parts of
Syria as it tries to build a caliphate across
several countries.
On Saturday , the Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights said Islamic State fighters had
killed about 700 members of a tribe in eastern
Syria.
The monitoring group said the killings took place
in several villages inhabited by the al - Sheitat
tribe in Deir Ezzor province. The Observatory said
many of the victims were beheaded after being
captured.