Town on front line of fight to defend Kurdish capital from jihadis hunkers down
Formerly bustling Kalak darkened and many residents flee prospect of fighting as Islamic State closes in on Arbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan
The main front line between militants from the Islamic State and Kurdish fighters defending their capital, Arbil, was pitch-black. Local residents had either fled or had turned off their lights and were staying indoors while the militants shelled the Kurdish lines and US and Iraqi aircraft responded with air strikes.
Once a bustling strip of homes, markets and tea shops accustomed to the heavy flow of commerce along the highway between Mosul and Arbil, Kalak has undergone two transformations.
The first came in early June when tens of thousands of refugees who fled the Islamic State's seizure of Mosul settled there in a vast tent city designed by the United Nations. The second came on Thursday, when the refugees vanished after a surprise offensive by the Islamic State into Kurdish-held areas.
Now the town of Kalak, 40km northwest of Arbil, has become the defensive line for Kurdish peshmerga militias and the flashpoint for the US aerial campaign that three times on Friday saw American aircraft strike Islamic State positions a couple of kilometres away.
Still, there are traditions to be kept, so not far from the front, small groups of Kurdish fighters were drinking tea at a handful of open roadside stands.