Iraqi forces repel Islamic State offensive south of Mosul
Iraqi forces repelled an offensive launched early on Saturday by the Islamic State (IS) group on the Sunni town of Shirqat, south of Mosul, during which 38 military and civilians were killed and 40 more wounded, security sources said.
IS lost 24 militants in the fighting, which ended around midday, the sources said.
About half the dead in the city were civilians and the rest members of the Iraqi armed forces and Sunni tribal fighters. A curfew was still in place in the early evening.
IS lost Shirqat to US-backed Iraqi government forces and tribal fighters last year. Its fall paved the way for the offensive on Mosul, the militants' de-facto capital in Iraq.
Eight months into the US-backed offensive to reclaim Mosul, all of the city has been retaken by Iraqi government forces except an enclave by the western bank of the Tigris River.
The militants continue to control pockets south and west of Mosul, as well as areas near the border with Syria and inside Syria.
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