'Grim Reminder': Kurds Fend Off Daesh's 'Most Serious Attack' in Months

Kurdish forces have reportedly managed to repel the most serious Daesh militant attack in northern Iraq since this summer.

Daesh (ISIL/ISIS) militants attacked Kurd forces' positions in northern Iraq, in what became the jihadists' most serious assault in northern Iraq in the past five months, media reports said.

The attack, which was jointly repelled by Kurdish forces and coalition air strikes, was launched at several locations on the outskirts of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Wednesday.

The sites targeted by Daesh included Narwan, Bashiqa and Tal Aswad. Each of the attacks involved up to 120 militants, Pentagon officials said.They added that at least 300 Daesh militants were killed in the fighting that they said continued until Thursday morning.

During the attack, the militants used machine guns, car bombs, rockets and armored bulldozers against Kurdish forces, according to the officials. 

Colonel Steve Warren, a US military spokesman, was quoted by the Washington Post as saying that the attack was "the hardest punch ISIL had thrown since this summer."

For his part, General Mark Odom, the senior US officer in Iraq, described the assault as a "spoiling attack", which he said may have been an attempt to disrupt plans to retake Mosul, which is currently controlled by Daesh militants, according to the New York Times.

The newspaper also cited Masrour Barzani, the chairman of the Kurdish region's security council as saying that the past twenty-four hours served as a "grim reminder of why we should not underestimate" Daesh militants.

According to him, the attack also indicated "how badly" Kurdish forces "need more ground support in addition to continued air support."