More than 60 Islamic State terrorists have been killed after fierce fighting broke out overnight in northern Iraq, Kurdish officials have said.

Their bodies were piled into a digger claw and onto the back of a pickup truck today in the strategic village of Sultan Abdullah, which extremists have targeted repeatedly in the past two months.

The bloody assault came just a day after U.S. officials revealed they are planning a 25,000-soldier invasion of Mosul - which was seized by Islamist militants last June - in as little as six weeks.

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT

Death: More than 60 Islamic State militants have been killed near the Iraqi village of Sultan Abdullah

Grim work: The men's bodies were piled onto a pickup truck by Kurdish Peshmerga forces today

Photos taken today showed Kurdish forces, known as Peshmerga, amassing the bodies of Islamic State militants at their heavily-attacked headquarters in the village of Sultan Abdullah.

A spokesman for the Kurdistan Democratic Party's Foreign Relations Office told MailOnline: 'ISIS militants have attacked Peshmerga frontlines twice in the last three days in the heights of Sultan Abdulla and on the Makhmour front.

'In each case the militants were defeated, and repulsed in such a way they reportedly left behind 60 bodies.'

A statement on the Kurdistan Democratic Party's website today added at least 50 jihadis' bodies were found on just one front after last night's fighting.

'The terrorists [Islamic State] launched overnight attacks on our units in three areas', it said. 'The Peshmerga forces confronted them strongly and with extermination.

'This was the eighth attack by terrorists [of its kind], and each one has had worse luck than its predecessor.'

Fierce fighting: The Kurdistan Democratic Party told MailOnline the attack was the second in three days

Preparations: A Kurdish fighter aims as Islamists burn tyres in the distance to obscure his field of view

Mosul is the largest city in northern Iraq and has become one of the key strongholds for Islamic State, also known as ISIS.

Iraqi soldiers fled in June last year when the terrorists marauded through the country and seized Mosul, setting up a caliphate which enforces an extreme interpretation of Sunni Islam.

The U.S. is helping Iraq plan a massive offensive to recapture the city, which will involve up to 25,000 soldiers battling just 1,000 or 2,000 militants.

Iraq's soldiers are set to be joined by Peshmerga fighters and former Mosul police officers for the attack, which a U.S. government official said was planned for April or May.

The source told the Associated Press that forces wanted to retake Mosul in the spring, before the summer heat and the holiday month of Ramadan kick in.

The plan comes after months of U.S. air strikes designed to cripple Islamic State.

Mass death: Peshmerga forces carried dozens of bodies of Islamic State militants using a digger today

Amassed: The attack was the latest of several near the city of Mosul, and one of the bloodiest for ISIS

SWEDISH JOURNALIST FREED AFTER A WEEK HELD BY SYRIAN REGIME A Swedish journalist has reportedly been freed from a week-long detention by Syrian government forces. Joakim Medin, a 30-year-old freelance reporter (right), told a Swedish newspaper he was seized at a road block along with his Kurdish interpreter Sabri Omar while working in the town of Qamishli, on the border with Turkey. Both were reportedly freed late last night. He told Expressen he was not subjected to violence but was interrogated and held in solitary confinement in a tiny cold dark cell 'full of dirt and blood'. 'I was there to report on the situation and hadn't entered the country the official way via the Syrian government,' he said. Advertisement

Washington is also training up and equipping the Iraqi military to be better-placed to recapture the territory.

But today Iraq's defence minister criticised the U.S. for declaring a timeframe for the offensive, saying military commanders should not show their hand to the enemy.

Khaled al-Obeidi added the official who predicted the attack for April or May had no knowledge of the issue.

'This is urban warfare and we have civilian populations,' he said. 'It is very important to take time and accuracy in setting the plan for this battle.

'A military official should not reveal the timing of an offensive. The battle for Mosul starts when preparations are complete, and selecting the time is up to Iraqi military commanders.'

'I don't know where the American official got this information... They absolutely do not have knowledge on this issue.'

Following the criticism Ash Carter, the new U.S. Defense Secretary, told reporters he would not confirm the precise timing of the attack.

Across the border in Syria, Kurdish forces launched a separate assault last night aimed at retaking the northeastern town of Tal Hamis.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, run by a Syrian exile in Coventry, Warwickshire, the Kurds 'managed to advance and took over some 20 villages, farms and hamlets'.

At least 12 jihadists were killed in the fighting, it said. It was not known if Kurdish forces lost any fighters.

Taking aim: A Peshmerga security offical stands guard with his sniper today as his colleagues gather bodies