Iraqi Kurdish forces said they recaptured Iraq's biggest dam from Islamist militants on Monday, as the United States launched air strikes to secure what has become a vital strategic objective in fighting that threatens to break up the country, according to The Associated Press.
Iraqi officials hailed what they said was a strategic victory in regaining control of the dam, and announced that the next objective would be to win back Mosul itself, the biggest city in northern Iraq which lies 25 miles downstream, the AP reported.
An employee at the site, however, said Islamic State fighters still held the Mosul Dam, giving them control over power and water supplies and where any breach of the vulnerable structure would threaten thousands of lives, the AP reported.
United States fighter, bomber and drone aircraft took part in the strikes on Islamic State positions near the dam, the Pentagon said, according to the AP. The strikes damaged or destroyed six armed vehicles, a light armoured vehicle and other equipment.
The U.S. military said it believed the air strikes around the dam had been effective in holding Islamic State militants in place so Iraqi and Kurdish forces could manoeuvre against them, the AP reported.
As fighting intensified, Islamic State militants were said to have killed dozens of Kurdish fighters and captured 170 of them, according to a Twitter site that supports the group, according to the AP.
The Islamists' seizure of the Mosul hydroelectric dam in northern Iraq earlier this month marked a stunning setback for Baghdad's Shi'ite-led authorities and raised fears the militants could cut electricity and water, or even blow the shaky structure, causing huge loss of life and damage down the Tigris river valley, the AP reported.
"The failure of the Mosul Dam could threaten the lives of large numbers of civilians, threaten U.S. personnel and facilities - including the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad - and prevent the Iraqi government from providing critical services to the Iraqi populace," a senior U.S. administration official said In Washington, according to the AP,.
