Mount Sinjar: Islamic State siege broken, say Kurds
Kurdish security forces have been trying to stem the IS advance across Iraq's northern Nineveh province
Kurdish forces in northern Iraq are claiming their biggest victory yet against Islamic State (IS) militants.
They say they have broken the IS siege of Mount Sinjar, where thousands of Yazidis and other displaced Iraqis have been trapped since August.
IS controls a swathe of Iraq and Syria, where it has declared a caliphate.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon's top officer says US air strikes have killed several high-ranking military leaders of IS in Iraq.
The Kurdish offensive against IS forces besieging Mount Sinjar began early on Wednesday with the most intensive round of air strikes yet by US and coalition forces - 45 in all.
Kurdish forces opened a wide corridor, allowing those trapped by IS to leave
IS forces control significant swathes of territory
Thousands of Yazidi and other displaced Iraqis have fled violence in the town of Sinjar
On the ground, about 8,000 Kurdish peshmerga fighters launched a two-pronged attack which they said had succeeded in opening a wide corridor to allow members of the Yazidi minority and others to leave.
Masrur Barzani, Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council, said the operation had been to advance from Zumar - which Kurdish forces recaptured in October - to Mount Sinjar and to rescue the Yazidi people trapped there.
"It was a very big operation and thankfully it was concluded very successfully," he said.
A statement from the Kurdish command said large numbers of militant fighters had fled westwards into Syria or eastwards towards Mosul, which they captured in June.
The BBC's Jim Muir says that if the Kurds have done all they say, it is a significant advance.
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