Sunni insurgents seize Iraq's largest dam near Mosul

MOSUL, Iraq, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Sunni insurgents of the Islamic State (IS) have seized Iraq's largest dam near Mosul and are closing to a major refugee camp in Nineveh province, a provincial official said on Friday.

Dozens of Islamic State militants recaptured the Mosul Dam on the Tigris River, about 70 km north of Nineveh's provincial capital of Mosul, after fierce clashes with the Kurdish Peashmerga security forces, head of the provincial security committee Mohammed Ibrahim told Xinhua.

The battles around the dam ended late night Thursday, leaving unknown number of casualties among the Peshmerga members and the extremist militants, Ibrahim said.

Later, the clashes with the Peshmerga moved to the Khazir refugee camp between Mosul and the provincial border with Arbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, Ibrahim added.

The clashes are still underway in the camp where dozens of thousands of refugees who fled their homes in Mosul and towns which have been seized by the insurgents are staying, he said.

Five days ago, the militants seized Mosul Dam after the withdrawal of Peshmerga members without fighting, but were defeated later by the Peshmerga before seizing the dam again on Thursday night.

Mosul Dam and the refugee camp near Mosul are part of the disputed areas which are ethnically mixed areas of Kurds, Arabs, Turkmans and others. The Kurds 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 Baghdad government.

Early in June, the Peshmerga took control of the disputed areas, including the northern city of Kirkuk after the Iraqi security forces withdrew from their bases following the June 10 blitzkrieg of the Sunni militant groups, headed by the IS group, which seized a large chunk of territories in the predominantly Sunni provinces.