IRAQI Kurdish peshmerga fighters made their most determined bid yet to breach Islamic State (Isis) defences at Bashiqa yesterday in the ongoing battle to encircle and liberate Mosul.

They exchanged heavy fire with Isis as they advanced from two directions into the town.

Combat began at dawn with a Kurdish barrage of heavy artillery, rockets and mortar rounds slamming into Isis positions.

“We have the co-ordinates of their bases and tunnels and we are targeting so that our forces can reach their targets more easily,” said peshmerga commander Brigadier General Iskander Khalil Gardi .

Bashiqa, which is believed to be largely deserted except for dozens of Isis fighters, lies eight miles from the edge of Mosul.