After four days of fighting, Kurdish Peshmerga forces have regained control of several districts in southern Irbil from Islamic State militants and are planning to continue their ground offensive, backed by Iraqi government airstrikes, to retake others currently under militant control.
Two districts, Makhmour and Al-Koweer, were retaken in the wide-scale operation, and any remnants of the militant group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, have been cleared out, a spokesperson for the Kurdish government forces said on Sunday.
Ahead of the Kurdish fighters' entry, dual airstrike attacks of the militants were carried out by central Iraqi and US forces, and this eased their mission, added the Kurdish spokesperson, who did not reveal their identity.
The Peshmerga are planning to continue pushing forward to retake other districts in Kurdistan's capital city.
Some 50 militants were killed in clashes on Sunday as the rest have fled to the bordering city of Mosul.
Earlier, Canada expressed readiness to provide military and logistics support to the operation, which its ambassador in Iraq has said is part of the fight on terror.
Britain has also offered support to the operation through providing humanitarian relief to the Iraqis and Kurds displaced by the fighting.