http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east
Iraqi federal forces have taken 40 oil wells from Kurdish Peshmerga forces in recent military operations in the northern Nineveh province, an Iraqi army officer said Saturday.
"Iraqi joint forces have managed to assert control over 40 out of 44 oil wells in recent military operations in the Zummar district of Tal Afar [west of provincial capital Mosul],” Army Major Hammam al-Abdali told Anadolu Agency.
"The central government has sent engineering crews specialized in operating oil wells to the area in order to maintain oil extraction without interruption," he said.
"Iraqi forces are also providing protection for engineering crews so the latter can carry out their responsibilities without encountering difficulties," he added.
Tension has steadily mounted between Baghdad and the Erbil-based Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) since Sept. 25, when Iraqis in KRG-held areas -- and in several disputed parts of the country -- voted on whether or not to declare independence from the Iraqi state.
According to poll results announced by the KRG, almost 93 percent of registered voters cast ballots in favor of independence.
The unconstitutional referendum was heavily criticized by most regional and international actors, with many warning it would distract from Iraq’s ongoing fight against terrorism and further destabilize the region.
Over the course of the last two weeks, Iraqi government forces have moved into several parts of the country disputed between Baghdad and Erbil, including the oil-rich Kirkuk province.
The military deployments have led to several violent confrontations between Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, with limited casualties reported on both sides.
Reporting by Ahmed Qassem; Writing by Mahmoud Barakat
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Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Friday ordered Iraqi government forces to suspend all military activities in parts of the country disputed between Baghdad and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) for a 24-hour period.
According to a statement issued by al-Abadi’s office, the decision was taken with a view to “preventing further bloodshed between the people of a single nation”.
Tension has steadily mounted between Baghdad and the Erbil-based KRG since Sept. 25, when Iraqis in KRG-held areas -- and in several disputed parts of the country -- voted on whether or not to declare independence from the Iraqi state.
According to poll results announced by the KRG, almost 93 percent of registered voters cast ballots in favor of independence.
The unconstitutional referendum was heavily criticized by most regional and international actors, with many warning it would distract from Iraq’s ongoing fight against terrorism and further destabilize the region.
Over the course of the last 10 days, Iraqi government forces have moved into several parts of the country disputed between Baghdad and Erbil, including the oil-rich Kirkuk province.
The military deployments have led to several violent confrontations between Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, with limited casualties reported on both sides.
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Iraqi forces have discovered a mass grave -- which appears to contain the remains of slain army and police personnel -- in the northern Kirkuk province, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said Saturday.
"A mass grave was discovered that appears to contain the remains of some 50 army and police personnel killed by Daesh terrorists in the village of Al-Bakara in Kirkuk’s Hawija district," the ministry said in a statement.
“The grave will be excavated -- and the remains examined -- in accordance with proper legal procedures,” it added.
Earlier this year, army sources said security forces had stumbled upon two mass graves containing the remains of dozens of members of the Iraqi army and police who had been killed by Daesh in Hawija.
On Oct. 8, Iraqi forces announced the recapture of Hawija, which had been one of the terrorist group's last remaining strongholds in the country.
Hamed al-Obaidi, a Kirkuk police captain, told Anadolu Agency that security forces had been tasked with investigating mass graves found in the district.
According to al-Obaidi, the fate of “dozens” of Iraqi military personnel had remained unknown since mid-2014, when Daesh overran vast territories in both Iraq and Syria.
In recent months, however, Daesh has suffered a string of major defeats at the hands of the Iraqi military and a U.S.-led coalition.
In August, the group lost Tal Afar in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province. And one month earlier, the city of Mosul -- once the capital of Daesh’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” -- fell to the army after a nine-month siege.
Reporting by Hussein al-Amir; Writing by Mahmoud Barakat
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http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/iraqi-army-urges-daesh-to-surrender/950819
The Iraqi army has called on Daesh militants to surrender amid an ongoing military operation to dislodge the terrorist group from their last stronghold in the western Anbar province.
Iraqi planes dropped thousands of leaflets on Daesh-held areas in Anbar, calling on the militants to lay down their arms and surrender to the Iraqi forces, the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
On Thursday, the Iraqi army began a wide-scale military campaign to liberate Anbar province's Rawa an al-Qaim towns, the group’s last enclaves in Iraq.
Brigadier-General Yahya Rasul, spokesman for the Iraqi army’s Joint Operations Command (JOC), earlier said Iraqi forces had killed 75 Daesh militants during operations in Anbar in the last 72 hours.
Meanwhile, Abu Ali al-Kufi, a commander of the pro-government Hashd al-Shaabi militia, said Daesh had planted booby-traps and explosive devices on roads and crossings to al-Qaim.
He said bomb disposal teams have managed to defuse the explosives and make safe routes for the forces.
“Our forces are waiting for the zero hour to attack on terrorists in their last hideouts,” he said.
Last month, Iraqi security and tribal forces captured Anah town in Anbar from Daesh while the terrorist group has been controlling Rawa and al-Qaim since mid-2014.