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| Iraq |
| Iraq forces in full control of Kirkuk province |
| 2017-10-22 |
| [Al Jazeera] Iraqi forces have claimed control of all of Kirkuk province after intense fighting against Kurdish Peshmerga forces. The army says it captured the last town, Altun Kupri, near Erbil, with the help of Shia paramilitaries early on Saturday after a three-hour battle. Peshmerga were sending reinforcements to fight the army and their allied militias on the front line north of Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... while Iraqi forces were trying to push the Peshmerga further towards Erbil, the Kurdish regional capital. The fighting continued around Altun Kupri, about 40km northwest of Kirkuk, on the Erbil-Kirkuk road. Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's ordered the army not to enter Erbil's city limits, saying they will protect civilians and their property, while respecting what he called the 2003 perimeters of the disputed area. |
| Posted by:Fred |