- City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
- Dubai 04:27 05:45 12:20 15:47 18:49 20:07
Turkish Kurds watch as smoke rises over the Syrian town of Kobani, from a hill near the Mursitpinar border crossing, on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province October 24, 2014. (Reuters)
Kurdish regional forces retook the northern Iraqi town of Zumar and several nearby villages from Daesh insurgents on Saturday, security sources said.
A Kurdish intelligence officer in Zumar said peshmerga forces had advanced from five directions in the early morning after coalition air strikes on Daesh positions. The Kurdish forces encountered fierce resistance before prevailing.
Daesh’s capture of large expanses of northern and western Iraq and neighbouring Syria has caused international shock and US-led air strikes began in August in support of regional ground forces to try to reverse the jihadist advance.
Kobane latest
Daesh group fighters made a new bid to cut off the Syrian border town of Kobane from neighbouring Turkey on Saturday as preparations gathered pace to deploy Iraqi Kurdish reinforcements.
The Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq unveiled plans on Friday for up to 200 well-trained peshmerga to join Syrian Kurdish forces defending Kobane in the coming week.
Kurdish news agency Rudaw said the first contingent could head to Kobane as early as Sunday but there was no immediate confirmation of that timetable.
Peshmerga ministry spokesman Halgord Hekmat declined to specify what route the Iraqi Kurdish forces would take, but they are expected to travel overland through Turkey, which has said it will allow them transit.
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