NINEVEH, Iraq

At least 13 members of a pro-government Shia militia were killed Saturday in a suicide bombing near the majority-Turkmen city of Tel Afar in northern Iraq.

Daesh militants attacked positions of the Hashd al-Shaabi militia near the city in an attempt to break a siege imposed on the road linking the cities of Tel Afar and Srinagar, army officer Saad al-Mosawi told Anadolu Agency.

He said Iraqi army forces have managed to repel the Daesh attack in the area, killing 17 militants.

Established in 2014, the Hashd al-Shaabi is an umbrella group of pro-government Shia militias drawn up with the express purpose of fighting the Daesh terrorist group.

For the past seven weeks, the Iraqi army -- backed by U.S.-led coalition warplanes and local allies on the ground -- has been fighting to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, which was overran – along with vast swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq – by Daesh in 2014.

Reporting by Mohamed Walid; Writing by Mohamed Sabry Emam Muhammed;