Militants from the Islamic State of Syria (ISIS) have launched at attack on the Mosul Dam – the largest in Iraq and a key source of water and electricity in the region.
Residents living near the dam say Sunni militants from the group took control of the complex after an hour of fighting.
But a spokesman for the Kurdish peshmerga forces protecting the Mosul Dam told AFP that the attack was repelled.
"The Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) launched an attack on Mosul dam but the peshmerga repelled it," Halgurd Hekmat said. "They left at least one body and four destroyed humvees behind in their retreat," he said.
The dam, north of Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul, lies on the Tigris River, which runs through the capital, Baghdad. It provides electricity to the 1.7 million residents of Mosul and is the fourth-largest dam in the Middle East.
ISIS has fought the local Kurdish peshmerga fighters for control of the dam for nearly one week. At least three residents who live in the area spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, fearing for their own safety.
The government did not immediately comment on the developments.
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