That whole armed citizenry thing is working....in Iraq against ISIS. More from Al Jazeera:
Government forces mainly composed of Kurdish peshmerga fighters and armed volunteers have broken through the Islamic State group siege on the town of Amerli located between Baghdad, and the northern city of Kirkuk.
The news came as the AFP news agency reported on Monday that fighting with the Sunni rebel group continues in Sulaiman Bek and Yanakaja towns north of Amerli, killing at least two peshmerga fighters.
As of Monday, Iraqi forces and the armed volunteers have taken control of Amerli, a day after entering the town, where at least 12,000 people have been trapped for over two months with dwindling food and water.
The breakthrough was aided by expanded US air strikes, which destroyed Islamc State armed vehicles near Amerli as well as near Mosul Dam further north.
And from the BBC:
Outgoing Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, who visited Amerli on Monday, said: "Our enemy is retreating and our security forces backed by volunteers are advancing to purge further towns."
#Iraq - "Even children were carrying Kalashnikovs" - how #Amerli survived 2-month #ISIS siege http://t.co/pzWzAyr76Z pic.twitter.com/DLvVzP2wju
— Julie Lenarz (@MsIntervention) September 2, 2014Armed citizens: they work to fight bad guys.