7 yıl önce

Clashes reported as Iraqi army takes last KRG-held area of Kirkuk province

Iraqi government forces says they have seized the Altun Kupri region, extending the central government's territory to within 50 kilometres of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region.

Reuters

Vehicles of Kurdish Peshmarga Forces are seen near Altun Kupri, between Kirkuk and Erbil, Iraq, on October 20, 2017.

Iraqi forces clashed with Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) forces Friday as the central government said it had wrested back control of the last area of disputed Kirkuk province in the latest stage of a sweeping operation following a controversial independence vote.

Iraq's Joint Operations Command said police, counter-terrorism units and allied militias seized the Altun Kupri region, extending the central government's territory to within 50 kilometres (30 miles) of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region.

The two sides exchanged mortar rounds and automatic gunfire but Iraqi forces managed to "hoist the flag on the municipality building," a security source in Kirkuk city said.

A Kurdish general, Ghazi Dolemri, was killed in the fighting, sources said, while shelling continued as Iraqi government forces and Hashd al Shaabi militias advanced on Sirawa, five kilometres north of Altun Kupri.

Iraqi forces also said they had retaken the Ain Zalah and Batma oil fields, northwest of Mosul.

TRT World's Iolo ap Dafydd reports from Erbil.