MOSUL, Iraq
A large number of Sunni Turkmen families are fleeing the Telafer district in Mosul as Kurdish peshmerga forces are en route to the district, an activist said Thursday.
"Turkmen families started to leave the district ahead of fighting expected between peshmerga forces and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants," Turkmen activist Mourtaza Mosa told The Anadolu Agency.
Peshmerga forces seized the control of the Zommar district of Mosul following fierce clashes with ISIL in September -- the move pushed Turkmen families to the Telafer district.
Separately, Iraqi troops have killed about 120 ISIL militants and seized 83 villages from militant groups in Ramadi city and Hit town of the Anbar province last week, Iraqi colonel Shaban Barzan al-Ubaydi said on Thursday.
"The troops, backed by the coalition, also defused 300 explosives, and destroyed five car bombs," Ubaydi said.
Since mid-June, the Iraqi army and Kurdish pershmerga forces have been pitted against ISIL militants, who have taken control of large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.
The U.S. is leading an international coalition, which includes France, Germany, and Saudi Arabia, and has carried out numerous airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq and Syria.
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