Suicide attackers from the Islamic State group killed two Kurdish peshmerga forces Sunday in an operation against a base in northern Iraq, officers said.

"Two members of the peshmerga were killed and five wounded in a suicide attack on K1 base," a major general in the peshmerga told AFP on condition of anonymity.

He said five armed men wearing suicide belts attacked the base, where he said foreign advisers from the US-led coalition assisting Iraq against the jihadists were stationed.

"The attack was thwarted and all the attackers were killed," the officer.

Wista Rasool, another senior peshmerga officer in the area, confirmed the attack, which targeted a base between the Kurdish-controlled city of Kirkuk and the IS-held town of Hawija.

IS has been trying to defend the city of Mosul, its last major stronghold in the country, against a massive six-month-old offensive.

It had already lost most of it and its last fighters are mostly holed up in the Old City, preparing for a bloody last stand.

The jihadist group, whose self-proclaimed "caliphate" is disintegrating, has carried out a number of diversionary attacks on other fronts in recent months but failed to regain the initiative.

Hawija is one of the last two significant Iraqi towns, with Tal Afar, still under jihadist control.

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Iraq forces launch new push on IS in west Mosul
Mosul, Iraq (AFP) May 4, 2017
Iraqi forces thrust into west Mosul from the north on Thursday, opening a new front in the more than six-month-old offensive to dislodge the Islamic State group from the country's second city. The assault is aimed at sealing the siege of the Old City, where die-hard jihadists holding huge numbers of civilians hostage are preparing for a bloody last stand. Forces from the army, the inter ... read more

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