about seven or eight miles. that's the peshmerga in the north. making progress, too, from the south, the southeast. but not so much from the west. we're just outside bashiqa where they mounted an operation yesterday and came in on two fronts and surrounded this very strategically important area. the town and eight different villages. 100 square kilometers and it was interesting we could hear small arms fire and rockets going in and then it was quiet. now, what we've been told is that they have been encountering those suicide car and truck bombs that have been such a problem. 130 of them have been destroyed during this campaign so far. they're also up against snipers. all have been quiet for a few hours and in the last hour or so a lot of mortars and a lot of rockets and also aircraft in the air over bashiqa. targets are being acquired and taken out so the peshmerga can