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Iraqi forces 'launch major Kirkuk operation'

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Iraqi govt.: PKK presence in Kirkuk amounts to declaration of war




The Iraqi government has accused Kurdish authorities of bringing fighters from Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to the disputed province of Kirkuk, in a move it called a "declaration of war".

The accusation was quickly rejected by Kurdish officials later on Sunday.

Thousands of Iraqi soldiers and allied militia are locked in a tense armed standoff with Kurdish forces in the oil-rich province amid a sharp row between the central government in Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq.

The National Security Council headed by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said it viewed as a "dangerous escalation" the presence of armed men "not belonging to the regular security forces in Kirkuk", including PKK fighters.

"It is impossible to remain silent" faced with "a declaration of war towards Iraqis and government forces", the council said a statement posted on the prime minister's official Twitter account.

Iraqi, Peshmerga forces standoff as tensions rise in disputed Kirkuk
"The central government and regular forces will carry out their duty of defending the Iraqi people in all its components including the Kurds, and of defending Iraq's sovereignty and unity," it added.

Vahal Ali, a media assistant to Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Masoud Barzani, denied that any PKK forces were present in Kirkuk.

"This is false, there are no PKK in Kirkuk, only Peshmerga," he told Reuters news agency, referring to KRG military forces.

General Jabar Yawer, secretary general of the Peshmerga ministry, told AFP news that "there are no PKK forces in Kirkuk, but there are some volunteers who sympathise with the PKK".

There were also "other volunteers, independents and Islamists fighting Daesh since 2014", he added, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group.

"They support the Peshmerga. They are irregular forces," Yawer said.


http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/10/iraq-accuses-kurds-declaration-war-kirkuk-171015162837238.html

@kartal1 @ATALAY @Timur @Hamzza @[TR]AHMET @ilker0101 @Targon @Islamic faith&Secularism @Mucahit @T-123456 @KediKesenFare @Oublious @bedbin @Kamil_baku @Khagan1923 @Orez @Vord @era_shield
 
Erdogan wants end of Peshmarga. They been heavily armed and trained in last 4 years and Turkey is very worried about that.
@xenon54 , @HAKIKAT where Turkey stand now in this coming " limited " war ?

Lots of Kurdish Propaganda right now, they are making claims such as 100 000 Pershmerga defending Kirkuk and other bullshit on social media, cant trust any Kurdish media or reporters, they made the same BS claims against Turkey that pkk were winning and holding territory against Turkish Army
watch live

http://www.rudaw.net/english/onair/tv/live
 
Why did things become so rough between KRG and Turkey though? I always thought that KRG was a sort of a puppet government and even an extension of Turkey....
 
Peshmerga fleeing from the entrance of Kirkuk

Peshmerga fleeing from the entrance of Kirkuk after the Iraqi Federal Police arrived to recapture the Iraqi city, Kirkuk, from peshmerga and Pkk.
Embedded media from this media site is no longer available
 
Reports of Iraqi AF striking KRG are being contradicted, as are reports of them having taken K1 base. Looks like it's true that Kurds destroyed some PMU humvees though and some Iraqi forces are dead.
 

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