Kurdish troops fought off a jihadist attack on an oil facility and a dam near the Iraqi city of Mosul but lost 14 of their number in intense combat, Kurdish sources said Saturday.

The Islamic State, which controls the northern city, “attacked a peshmerga post in Zumar (Friday) and a fierce battle erupted,” an official in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan told AFP.

He said 14 peshmerga fighters were killed, a toll confirmed by a senior officer in the Kurdish force.