Peshmerga Command: Iraqi Military Attack on Kirkuk is ‘Declaration of War’
Peshmerga Command: Iraqi Military Attack on Kirkuk is ‘Declaration of War’ - Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Peshmerga General Command has said in a statement that the attack on Kirkuk by the Iranian Quds-backed Iraqi forces and the mainly Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi is “a flagrant declaration of war against the nation of Kurdistan,” and warned that the government of the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi should pay a “heavy price” for initiating the conflict.
It said that the military incursion into the Peshmerga controlled areas in the oil-province of Kirkuk is in retaliation against the right of the people to vote on their fate, a reference to the Kurdish independence vote held last month that saw 92.7 percent of the people voting to leave Iraq.
The Peshmerga command also accused some of the Kurdish commanders of the ruling Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) whom it said were complicit when the Iraqi forces made rapid advances against the positions of Kurdish security forces, including an oil field and key infrastructure in the province. The PUK has denied the accusations.
It continued to say that the Iraqi forces, including the Hashd, used American weapons they received for the war against ISIS…
Iraqi Army Takes Over Kirkuk as Kurdish Peshmerga Flee
Iraqi Army Takes Over Kirkuk as Kurdish Peshmerga Flee by Ed Adamczyk - UPI
Kurdish Peshmerga troops left the city of Kirkuk on Monday after Iraqi troops captured vital installations in and around the city, Baghdad's army said -- the latest moves in a standoff that arose from a vote for Kurdish independence last month.
Officials said the K-1 military base is now under Iraqi army control, as are oil fields in resource-rich Kurdistan province.
The Kurdish military peacefully withdrew from the Maktab Khaled and Tal a-Ward regions, south of Kirkuk, with the Iraqi Federal Police now controlling the area.
Clashes broke out, though, between the Kurdish Peshmerga and troops of the al-Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Forces -- one of Iraq's pro-government independent militias -- south of the city, Iraqi News reported on Monday. It said at least 30 Peshmerga troops were hospitalized.
The Iraqi army turned its attention to the Peshmerga after Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous region of Iraq, voted overwhelmingly for independence last month -- a referendum opposed by Baghdad…