Iraq's Kurdish semi-autonomous region said on Wednesday that up to 727 Kurdish fighters have been killed fighting the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

A statement issued by the regional Kurdish military forces, known as Peshmerga, said that 727 of its members were killed and 3564 others wounded in battles against the IS since the extremist group started a blitzkrieg in June. It also said that 34 Peshmerga members officially went missing.

The Kurdish Peshmerga fought back the IS militants immediately after the al-Qaida offshoot swept country's northern province of Nineveh. The jihadist group later seized swathes of territories in other Sunni provinces, including disputed areas, after Iraqi security forces abandoned their posts.

The disputed areas are ethnically mixed with Kurds, Arabs, Turkmens and other minorities. The Kurds have demanded to expand their autonomous region in northern Iraq to include the oil-rich province of Kirkuk and other areas in the Iraqi provinces of Nineveh, Salahudin and Diyala, but their move is fiercely opposed by the government in Baghdad.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)