BAGHDAD Iraqi Kurdish fighters backed by US warplanes retook the countrys largest dam from IS militants on Sunday, as Sunni tribesmen and security forces fought the militants west of Baghdad.
The recapture of Mosul dam marks the biggest prize yet clawed back from Islamic State (IS) since they launched a major offensive in northern Iraq in early June, sweeping Iraqi security forces aside.
IS militants, who have declared a caliphate straddling vast areas of Iraq and Syria, also came under air attack in their Syrian stronghold of Raqa on Sunday, a monitoring group said.
A senior Iraqi army officer said that while the fighting had ended, some areas around the dam were still inaccessible due to bombs planted by the militants.
The ISIL seizure of the Mosul hydroelectric dam in northern Iraq marked a stunning setback for Baghdad government and raised fears the militants could cut power and water supplies, or even blow the shaky structure, causing huge loss of life and damage down the Tigris river valley.
Iraqi officials hailed what they said was a strategic victory in regaining control of the dam, and announced that the next objective would be to win back Mosul itself, the biggest city in northern Iraq which lies 40 km downstream.
A 2007 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report said the dam, which blocks the Tigris and holds 12 billion cubic meters of water, could flood two cities killing tens of thousands of people if were destroyed or collapsed.
A wall of water could surge as far as Baghdad, 400 km away.
“The next stop will be Mosul.”
In Syrias Raqa, the Syrian air force carried out 16 raids on the city of Raqa and several more on the town of Tabqa in Raqa province, killing at least 31 insurgents, said Observatory.
The air strikes were the most intensive against the IS since the militants joined the anti-regime revolt in that country in spring 2013, the Observatory said.
The regime wants to show the Americans that it is also capable of striking the IS, said the Britain-based groups director, Rami Abdel Rahman.
On another battlefront, security forces backed by Sunni Arab tribal militia made gains against the IS in Iraqs Anbar province.
Fighting was also taking place near the strategic Euphrates Valley town of Haditha, located near another important dam, police Staff Major General Ahmed Sadag said.
The rallying of more than two dozen Sunni tribes to the government side on Friday marked a potential turning point in the fightback against the jihadists and their allies.
In the north, members of minority groups including the Yazidis, Christians, Shabak and Turkmen, remain under threat of kidnapping or death at the hands of the militants.
Human rights groups and residents say IS fighters have been demanding that religious minorities in the Mosul region either convert or leave, unleashing violent reprisals on any who refuse.
Amnesty International, which has been documenting mass abductions in the Sinjar area, says IS kidnapped thousands of Yazidis in this months offensive.
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