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JUST two weeks after a referendum in which 92 per cent of voters backed independence. the Kurdish regional government says its troops are coming under attack from Iraqi forces.
Around 6.000 Kurdish troops have been sent to the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and told to defend it at “any cost.“ amid fears Baghdad wants to take three oil fields that yield 250.000 barrels per day.
The moves have prompted calls in the UK for the United Nations to act to protect the Kurds.
Though Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has insisted he has no plans for a military operation against the Kurds. footage captured by the BBC showed soldiers. police. and members of the Iran-trained Shia militia. the Popular Mobilisation Force (PMF) heading toward Kirkuk.
Al Jazeera TV also reported Iraqi forces. tanks. artillery. Humvees and mortars in Bashir and Taz. in southern Kirkuk. between two and three kilometres from where the Peshmerga. the Kurdish military forces. are based.
Hemin Hawrami. a senior assistant to Kurdish President Masoud Barzani. took to Twitter to urge the international community to intervene.
“Thousands of heavily armed Pehsmerga units are now completely in their positions around Kirkuk.“ he tweeted.
“Their order is to defend at any cost. We call upon the international community to intervene. call @HaiderAlAbadi to order PMF to pull back if he can or if they listen to him.“
It takes the country close to civil war. which is potentially a huge problem for American interests in the region.
Both the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish Regional Government are key allies for the US. and both have been pivotal in the fight to drive Daesh from Iraq.
Kurdish troops captured Kirkuk. which is outside of the autonomous Kurdish region. in June 2014. as the jihadists pushed further south towards Baghdad.
In circumstances that are still a little unclear. the Iraqi army folded. handing over control of Kirkuk to the Kurds.
But now the Iraqi central government is demanding the city be returned to their control.
The Kurds clearly showed they wanted independence in a non-binding referendum last month. where all three provinces that have long formed an autonomous Kurdish region voted for self-determination rather than to remain part of a federal Iraq.
It wasn’t just Kurds who voted for independence.
While majority of the population in Kirkuk are Kurds. it also has a significant numbers of Arab and Turkmen residents. who feel safer under Kurdish control. rather than that of the Iraqi central government.
Jack Lopresti. the Conservative chair of Westminster’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Kurdistan. called for the UK Government to raise the matter at the UN.
He suggested the militia advancing on Kirkuk weren’t answering to Abadi. but were likely working on the orders of the Iranians.
