The battle for Iraq

Security forces inspect the site of a car bomb explosion in the town of Ashar, in the Basra region, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014. Officials say a wave of bombings targeted commercial areas across Iraq, killing and wounding dozens of people. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jourani)

The battle for Iraq

Iraqi Kurdish forces captured a strategic border crossing and several villages from Islamic State fighters in northern Iraq on Tuesday, scoring gains as the militants were pounded by heavy U.S.-led air strikes and the Iraqi army advanced from the south.

An Iraqi Kurdish political source said Kurdish peshmerga fighters took control of the Rabia border crossing with Syria in a battle that began before dawn.

"It's the most important strategic point for crossing. Once that's taken it's going to cut the supply route and make the operation to reach Sinjar easier," the source said, referring to a mountain further south where members of the Yazidi minority sect have been trapped by Islamic State fighters. (REUTERS)