
“The Peshmerga forces will not withdraw from Kirkuk, and all their preparations have been made to indoctrinate those who are trying to attack it with a lesson they will not forget throughout their history,” Peshmerga forces commander in the western Kirkuk district, Kamal Karkuki, told a news conference in the province yesterday. “We hope that the other side will not make any mistake, and that the war will not break out between us, because the war will harm both sides and the process of democracy in the region,” he said. “The arrival of these numbers of Iraqi forces and the mobilization in the region, Ill intentions ».
“The popular crowd threatens the people of the region and the people of Kurdistan with the weapons obtained from the Iraqi forces, which was also obtained by the International Alliance,” and called on these forces to leave Kirkuk and other areas and withdraw to the mountains behind Hamrin, stressing that these mountains are «is Borders of natural Kurdistan ».
Kirkuki revealed that the “crowd” gunmen gathered near Kirkuk, mostly non-Iraqis, and spoke in other languages.
The situation in the field between the Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi forces, including the “popular mobilization” in the disputed areas, including Kirkuk, has been tense for some days. The two sides are preparing for the battle, while the citizens of these areas and the volunteers are prepared to fight in defense against the attacking forces The battles between the two sides.
While it was reported that it was expected to end the middle of last night, a deadline set by Baghdad for the «Peshmerga» to withdraw from Kirkuk and the oil and strategic areas, said Brigadier Sartib Hasari, an officer in the Ministry of Peshmerga, told «Middle East»: «We have not yet “We hope that there will not be any collision between us. We and the Iraqi army fought against the organization during the past three years together,” noting that the Peshmerga forces are ready to face any emergency has fortified their positions, noting that the Iraqi forces and « The popular crowd “mobilized large numbers of troops Tha and weapons in the area.
Maj. Gen. Mohammad Qadir, commander of the Peshmerga forces in the Daqouk axis, south of Kirkuk, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The borders of our axis have not witnessed any movement by Iraqi forces.
Some 80 kilometers south of Kirkuk, the situation in the town of Tuzhurmato last night witnessed a security deterioration that continued until yesterday afternoon, where factions of the Popular Gathering, based in the predominantly Turkmen neighborhoods of the city, shelled the Kurdish neighborhoods and Kurdish party headquarters with snipers and mortars. , But the Kurdish side remained calm.
“They attacked the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan with medium and light weapons and mortars, but the Peshmerga forces did not respond to them in order to avoid any battles, but the attacks continued until dawn yesterday,” said the officer in the Peshmerga forces, Lieutenant Kuger Mohammad. Kurdish volunteers from the population of Tuzhurmato, and then erupted clashes lasted about two and a half hours, and then stopped the Shiite factions to fire, and now the situation in Tuzhurmato calm », adding that two Peshmerga fighters were slightly injured during the battles yesterday, «Crowd».