Kurdish Peshmerga have attacked villages held by Islamic State in northern Iraq, as part of efforts to take back the country's largest city, Mosul. 

Brigadier General Iskander Fareeq Kurdi says they're trying to catch the militants in a pincer movement. 

"Our forces launched attacks from two directions. So far, we have liberated 100 square kilometers." 

A Peshmerga commander said, so far, they've recaptured 11 villages from the ultra-hardline Sunni militants.

Mosul is the largest urban center under the militants' control. Iraqi officials say its fall will mark the effective defeat of Islamic State in Iraq.