Kurdish forces have seized control of a large area of the Iraqi town of Sinjar that was earlier under the Islamic State group's control.

According to the BBC, Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani claimed large Peshmerga advances during a visit to nearby Mount Sinjar.

The Islamic State had been exercising control over the town near the Syrian border since August.

With US-backing, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, last week, launched air strikes in a counter-offensive in the region.

Kurdish authorities had first announced on Friday that they had broken the IS siege of Mount Sinjar, where thousands of Yazidis and other displaced Iraqis have been trapped since August, the report said. (ANI)