Kurdish forces retook the northern Iraqi town of Zumar and several nearby villages from Islamic State (IS) early yesterday after heavy coalition air strikes against the insurgents, security sources said.

A Kurdish intelligence officer in Zumar said peshmerga forces had encountered fierce resistance. A spokesman for the peshmerga ministry also said Zumar was now in Kurdish hands. Zumar was one of the first Kurdish-controlled towns taken by IS militants, who went on to threaten the region's capital. It led to US air strikes - a campaign since joined by Britain and France.