Forces have reportedly captured military base, airport and oilfields outside northern city since beginning advance in early hours of Monday

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Iraqi forces have reportedly captured a military base, an airport and oilfields outside the northern city of Kirkuk after the prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, ordered the army to “impose security” on the Kurdish-held territory.

Iraqi troops began advancing on the oil city in the early hours of Monday morning amid reports of clashes with the Kurdish peshmerga fighters, the special forces of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Baghdad and the Kurdish region have long been at odds over the fate of Kirkuk, a dispute that has grown more bitter since the Kurds voted for independence last month in a non-binding referendum.

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Kirkuk, which participated in the 25 September referendum, has been under the control of Kurdish forces since 2014, when Iraqi forces fled the area as Islamic State jihadists advanced.

Iraqi forces claimed they made rapid progress on Monday, regaining control of the North Oil Company and Baba Gurgur fields as well the K1 military base and an airport east of the city. Thousands of Kirkuk residents were reported to be fleeing the city towards Erbil and Sulaimaniya.



The US–led coalition battling Isis played down reports of clashes in a statement released on Monday, saying it was aware of reports of a “limited exchange of fire during predawn hours of darkness”, but “we believe the engagement this morning was a misunderstanding and not deliberate as two elements attempted to link up under limited visibility conditions”.

In a statement issued on Monday, Abadi said he felt compelled to act “in accordance with the constitution to serve the citizens and protect the unity of the country, which was in danger of partition due to the insistence on holding the referendum.”



Urging peshmerga fighters to serve under “the federal authority” as part of the Iraqi armed forces, the Iraqi prime minister said: “We have only acted to fulfil our constitutional duty to extend the federal authority and impose security and protect the national wealth in this city, which we want to remain a city of peaceful coexistence for all Iraqis.”

The peshmerga general command issued a statement urging Kurdish fighters to “resist and defeat the attackers”, saying that Abadi’s government “should pay a heavy price” for its actions.



Rudaw, a Kurdish media network, said peshmerga forces were still in control of Kirkuk city. “The peshmerga will certainly reorganise its forces,” Halgurd Hikmat, the media officer of the peshmerga ministry, was quoted as saying, adding that Kurdish fighters were defending two other key oilfields.

“We saw some of the young people who expressed their readiness to help their peshmerga brothers to defend the land,” the governor of Kirkuk, Najmaldin Karim, told Rudaw. On Monday, Abadi appointed an Arab politician, Rakan Saeed, to replace Karim.

The US Department of Defense has urged Iraqi and Kurdish forces “to avoid additional escalatory actions” that would detract from the battle against Isis. The US provided weapons to both the Iraqi army and the peshmerga to fight Isis.

World oil prices jumped on Monday amid reports of the clashes.

The Kurdish president, Masoud Barzani, ordered his forces not to initiate a conflict but to respond if attacked, Hemin Hawrami, a senior assistant to the president, was quoted as saying.

Al-Iraqiya TV said Iraqi troops, anti-terrorist units and federal police had taken control of some areas around the city, having advanced without firing a shot. The objective was to take control of the K1 airbase, west of Kirkuk, Lt Col Salah el-Kinani, of the Iraqi army’s 9th armoured division, said.



Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) #BREAKING: The governor of Kirkuk Najmaldin Karim urges the people of the city to come out on the streets to protect themselves from Hashd. pic.twitter.com/62ejDc9Npo

Tensions in the area have been rising since the referendum, which was strongly opposed by Iran, Baghdad and Turkey and has since led to a blockade of the region by all three powers.

The Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, one of the most powerful figures in Iraq, had told Kurdish leaders before the poll that he would not stop Shia forces from the Popular Mobilisation Front from attacking Kirkuk if the ballot went ahead.

Baghdad had not accepted the Kurdish claim on the city, which is comprised of Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen, and had been bitterly opposed to Kurdish officials selling oil from the Kirkuk fields through a pipeline to Turkey.



The US – an ally of both Baghdad and Erbil, the Kurdish regional government’s (KRG) seat of power – had opposed the ballot, especially the decision to include Kirkuk and other disputed areas, a move that officials described as “dangerous unilateralism” which attempted to redraw the country’s boundaries.

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On Friday, the Kurdish and Iraqi governments rushed troops and armour to the city. Peshmerga forces massed about 20 miles from Kirkuk’s southern limits after units loyal to the central government took positions on the city’s approaches.

At the time, the likelihood of a battle for the ethnically diverse city had dissipated, with political leaders on both sides trying to calm nerves.

Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

