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Iraqi Forces Establish Security in Kirkuk

Iraqi Forces Establish Security in Kirkuk
folder_openMiddle East... access_time6 years ago
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Local Editor

Iraqi government forces established security over the northern city of Kirkuk after retaking disputed territory from Kurdish militants.

Iraqi Forces Establish Security in Kirkuk

Police called on the residents, who had fled in their thousands for fear of a potential armed confrontation, to return, giving assurances that the situation is stable.
The city is now under a night-time curfew.

Iraq's al-Forat news agency also said army forces were now in control of all of the city's government buildings, state-owned North Oil and North Gas companies, the Kirkuk International Airport, and K-1 Airbase.

Relatively, an Iraqi army officer said government forces had also taken control of all oilfields operated by the North Oil Company in the province.

Government troops also reopened the highway linking the Kirkuk City and the capital Baghdad, Iraq's al-Sumariyah television network reported.

Kurdish forces have been holding parts of Iraqi territory since 2014, when Daesh began an offensive across Iraq and the Kurds began fighting it and overrunning territory in the process.

The Baghdad government has long insisted that the Kurds pull out of the territories they had overrun. But the Kurdish militants refused.

Ever since a controversial referendum on secession in Iraqi Kurdistan on September 25, the Iraqi government has lost patience, sending security forces to retake Kurdish-held areas.

Baghdad also ordered the Kurdistan region to swiftly hand over its border crossings and airports. The region refused and later sent thousands of Peshmerga and other militants to Kirkuk Province, which it has been claiming in its entirety for long.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered that national flags be hoisted on public buildings in all of Kirkuk's neighborhoods.

Crowds on the streets of Kirkuk's southern outskirts welcomed army forces as they entered the city.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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