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By Isabel Coles ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Kurdish forces drove Islamic State militants back from the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq on Monday, in an attack which was backed by heavy air strikes from a U.S.-led coalition. Speaking to a local television channel near the frontline, Kirkuk governor Najmaldin Karim, who was wearing a helmet, said the purpose of the offensive was to secure Kirkuk, which the Kurds have held since last summer. Kurdish peshmerga fighters began shelling Islamic State positions at dawn before advancing along an approximately 30 km (20 mile) front southwest of the city, seizing several villages and gaining around five kilometers (three miles) in some places. "This morning we launched an attack on three axes," Major-General Omar Saleh Hassan told Reuters by telephone from the frontline near Tel Ward.More...