Even as Western powers struggle to put together a coalition to tackle the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS or ISIS), Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq have been battling for weeks to stem the jihadist onslaught.

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The Islamic State insurgency has spread like wildfire across Syria and Iraq, leaving behind it a trail of death and desolation.

Iraqi Kurdistan's Peshmerga fighters, backed by Kurds from neighbouring Syria and Turkey, have paid a heavy price to defend their autonomous region from the jihadists.

Our reporters take you to the heart of the struggle for control of Iraq's lawless north.



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