(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Six months into the jihadist offensive in Iraq, the autonomous Kurds said yesterday they had lost more than 700 fighters and argued the burden of hosting a million displaced civilians was becoming unsustainable.
Since the Islamic State group launched a devastating offensive from Syria on June 9, Iraq's Kurds have been involved in battles along a frontline stretching more than 1,000 kilometres.
A statement from the region's military forces, known as the peshmerga, said 727 members of the Kurdish security forces had been killed and 3,564 wounded since June 10.
The dead and wounded included "officers, non-commissioned officers, members of the Asayish (intelligence agency), of the police and some peshmerga veterans," it said.
The peshmerga ministry said 34 members of the Kurdish security forces are also still reported as missing.
The last overall toll released by an official Kurdish source was on August 8, when the regional presidency's chief of staff Fuad Hussein said 150 peshmerga had been killed.
Yesterday's figures do not include casualties sustained in Iraq by Kurdish fighters from armed groups based in Turkey, Syria and Iran who have joined the anti-IS war effort.
Jabbar Yawar, the peshmerga ministry's secretary general, told AFP that only 11 of the Iraqi Kurds who had joined the battle against IS fighters in the Syrian border town of Kobane had been wounded and none killed.
When the jihadists, who already controlled swathes of neighbouring Syria, attacked six months ago, the Iraqi federal forces collapsed, commanders and foot soldiers alike often abandoning their posts without a fight.
The peshmerga moved in to the vacuum and took over several disputed areas they had long claimed from the federal state, de facto expanding the size of their region by around 40 percent.
However, they were forced out of several of their newly acquired territories when IS fighters - who had made Iraq's second city of Mosul their main hub - launched a second offensive in August.
The fresh advance brought IS to within striking distance of the Kurdish capital of Arbil, which was one of the justifications put forward by US President Barack Obama when he ordered air strikes four months ago.
Several other nations - including Britain, France and Australia - have since joined the air campaign and the peshmerga have also received foreign assistance in the shape of weapons, military advisers and training.
"Peshmerga forces have succeeded in pushing IS away from several Kurdistan regions and in transitioning from a defensive to an offensive phase," yesterday's statement said.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.