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Kurdish Iraqis set to enter take Sinjar from Islamic State

Smoke rises over Sinjar, northern Iraq from oil fires set by Islamic State militants as Kurdish Iraqi fighters, backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, launch a major assault on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015. The strategic town of Sinjar was overran last year by the Islamic State group in an onslaught that caused the flight of tens of thousands of Yazidis and first prompted the United States to launch the air campaign against the militants. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Smoke rises over Sinjar, northern Iraq from oil fires set by Islamic State militants as Kurdish Iraqi fighters, backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, launch a major assault on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015. The strategic town of Sinjar was overran last year by the Islamic State group in an onslaught that caused the flight of tens of thousands of Yazidis and first prompted the United States to launch the air campaign against the militants. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen) Smoke rises over Sinjar, northern Iraq from oil fires set by Islamic State militants as Kurdish Iraqi fighters, backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, launch a major assault on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015. The strategic town of Sinjar was overran last year by the Islamic State group in an onslaught that caused the flight of tens of thousands of Yazidis and first prompted the United States to launch the air campaign against the militants. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

By Associated Press 1 min read

SINJAR, Iraq (AP) – Officials with the Iraqi Kurdish militia say they are preparing to push their large-scale military operation into the center of Sinjar, the strategic mountain town in northern Iraq currently in the hands of the Islamic State group.

Nouri Said, the commander of a Yezidi unit of the Kurds’ peshmerga forces, says the forces will “remove the barriers along the front line” and move into the town.

Diar Namo, deputy commander of the unit, says they saw more than 50 militants flee the town late Thursday as Kurdish forces ramped up their attack.

Kurdish fighters launched their operation, dubbed Operation Free Sinjar, on Thursday and said they managed to sever one of the Islamic State group’s most strategic supply lines.