Kurdish forces launch offensive against IS in Iraq's Kirkuk

US and French warplanes are supporting Kurdish forces advancing against Islamic State group (IS) forces in Iraq's northern province of Kirkuk, in a fresh offensive that started on Wednesday.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces attacked IS positions in villages south of Daquq, a town about 175 km north of Baghdad.

"Joint forces from the Peshmerga and hundreds of counter-terrorism forces have launched a massive attack today with support from the international coalition on the cities of Daquq, Tal al-Bassal, Najm, Rashad and Taza to regain control of them and liberate them from the IS within a plan that had been agreed upon in advance,” a commander in the Kurdish forces, General Westa Rassoul, told al-Araby al-Jadeed.

"The joint forces have been able to liberate seven villages so far and to inflict huge human and material losses on the ranks of the organisation," Rassoul added.

A local resident told al-Araby in a telephone conversation that the coalition air force bombarded the area with guided missiles two hours ahead of the Kurdish attack.

These areas are strategically important as they are only 13 miles from the Baba Gurgur and Hajj oilfields, from which Iraq extracts 35 percent of its daily oil exports. An IS attack on these oilfields could seriously disrupt Iraq's economy.

A Kurdish officer with the rank of captain was killed by an improvised explosive device, the agency also said.

The front line between the IS and the Kurdish forces in northern Iraq has been relatively stable for months.

The Kurdistan Regional Government has demonstrated little interest in expanding its territory beyond the predominantly Kurdish enclave in the north of Iraq it already controls.