"The Iraqis started slowly backing off in the afternoon. They left just one guard to man the position. Then they withdrew completely and we moved forward," said Omar Ismail, a member of the local security forces.

He said the latest position seized by the peshmerga (Kurdish fighters) was near the town of Kilak, on the demarcation line between Kurdish- and government-controlled territories, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Mosul.

According to Kurdish military commanders, retreating loyalist troops also left several other positions in the same area in the past 24 hours.

Government forces have staged similar withdrawals around the key northern oil city of Kirkuk to the east, although analysts said they regarded them as largely tactical.

SPACE.WIRE