ARBIL, Iraq, March 28 (UPI) -- More than 40 Iraqi troops surrendered to Kurdish forces in northern Iraq in the past 24 hours, a Kurdish military source told United Press International Friday.
According to the Kurdish Democratic Party the troops surrendered near Iski Kalak, midway between Arbil and Mosul, about 210 miles northwest of Baghdad.
The source, a member of Massoud Barzani's KDP, said Peshmerga fighters treated Iraqi soldiers well and transported them to a military position near Arbil.
He said the mass surrender came in the wake of heavy airstrikes against Iraqi military positions near Iski Kalak on the Great Zab River, a tributary of the Tigris River, 25 miles west of Arbil.
In the meantime, strikes by coalition forces continued Friday morning against Iraqi military positions south of the northern cities of Dahouk, Arbil, Chamchamal and Taktak which remain outside Baghdad's control.
