As Iraqi forces close in on Mosul, ISIS lashes out

Militants unleashed a wave of suicide attacks across Iraq on Monday, killing at least 29 people and wounding dozens, as military officials in Iraq and Syria celebrate battlefield gains against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS.)

As Iraqi forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition have advanced against ISIS on a number of fronts in recent months, extremists have retaliated with a number of large scale bombings targeting civilians.

Iraqi officials said troops have recaptured a key village outside the ISIS-held city of Mosul after days of heavy fighting.

Lt. Col. Mohammed al-Wagaa of the Iraqi army said troops retook the village of al-Nasr, near the Tigris river, on Monday, after destroying six suicide car bombers that had tried to attack them.

He said a Sunni tribal leader, Sheikh Faris al-Sabawi, was killed by an ISIS sniper who stayed behind in the village. Al-Sabawi commanded hundreds of Sunni fighters and received aid from the Baghdad government.

Read More- CBS News

Image courtesy of Middle East Monitor