The Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq says its Peshmerga forces have cleared nine villages in Kirkuk Province of Islamic State (IS) militants.
The Kurdistan region's Security Council said the offensive began at dawn on August 26 in the Daquq area, some 175 kilometers north of Baghdad.
The statement said it involved 2,000 troops backed by U.S.-led coalition air strikes.
Twenty-five militants and five Peshmerga were reported killed in the fighting.
Peshmerga forces have been battling IS militants since the extremist group swept across northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014.
