Forces close in on Tal Afar

Iraqi forces yesterday closed in on Tal Afar on the second day of an offensive against the last major bastion of the Islamic State group in the country's north, after seizing several villages around the city.

The offensive launched at dawn Sunday comes only weeks after Iraqi forces seized second city Mosul from IS and as the jihadists also face assaults on their positions in Syria.

Tal Afar was once a major supply hub between Mosul and the Syrian border and capturing it would be another major blow to IS's self-declared "caliphate" that once controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq.

The Iraqi army, federal police and counter-terrorism forces backed by 20,000 fighters from the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary group launched the offensive on Tal Afar.

They are battling IS on three fronts -- the west, south and southeast -- and commanders have told AFP they expect to tighten the noose on the jihadists.

The battle for Tal Afar has sparked fears for thousands of civilians trapped inside.

The US-led coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria says between 10,000 and 50,000 civilians are estimated to be in and around Tal Afar.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said yesterday US-led coalition strikes on Sunday killed 27 civilians in part of Syria's Raqa city held by the Islamic State group.

Seven children were among the dead in the strikes that "hit the densely-populated Al-Badu area in the centre of the city," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Russia's air force has destroyed a large column of Islamic State fighters on their way to the Syrian city of Deir al-Zor, killing over 200 militants, Russian news agencies cited Russia's Defence Ministry as saying yesterday.