Kurdish peshmerga forces have been in Kirkuk for a long time, but they did not have the prominent presence in the city like now. They have been massing more forces since yesterday. The [insurgent] fighters reached Kirkuk's edges yesterday but they did not try to sweep to the city centre. This move by the fighters has alarmed the peshmerga forces and made them call up more numbers.

The new forces are deploying along Kirkuk's borders and they have reached the Kirkuk irrigation project at the north side of the province. I just got back home after a trip to the city centre. The centre is full of peshmaraga patrols. They are moving the military equipment of the Iraqi army's 12th brigade to Sulaimaniyia and Irbil provinces. This military brigade was too far away and they could not get any closer; that is why it fell to the peshmerga.

The fighters are mainly at Hawija town in Kirkuk, which is predominantly inhabited by Arab tribes. The military forces have no control on this town, nor on the peshmerga. The fighters in this town did not advance to the city centre – they might have another tactic and they did not want to clash with the Kurds now.

It seems that Kirkuk city is not in fighters' calculations. The Turkman community are upset that the Kurds are making use of the situation to control the city. As a local Arab man in Kirkuk, I have to say that the Kurds are benefiting a lot of the current crisis but I can also understand the wisdom behind leaving Kirkuk now to them.

Yesterday evening the fighters liberated 47th battalion, which is part of 12th brigade, near Hawija town. Soon after the peshmerga moved their equipment to deal with fighters who were massing there but they sustained heavy losses and retreated. They tried today again but the resistance by the fighters was even tougher as they made use of the armoured vehicles that belong to the battalion to combat peshemrga fire.

We are all in state of alert. A curfew has been declared, from 11pm to 6am. There is an abnormal situation in the city. People are stockpiling food in panic and the prices jumped up at once. You can see queues of cars at fuel pumps.

No one is leaving the city, we are receiving families from Hawija town, Mosul and Tikrit. People are worried about the government expecting reaction. All the Arab community in Kirkuk support the fighters and the revolution to liberate Iraq but we do not want... to be part of a deal between the Kurds and Maliki. In order to get rid of the fighters, Maliki would let the Kurds take Kirkuk to get their support.