Tensions between Government and Kurdish Forces Continue Around Kirkuk as Deadline for Withdrawal Reportedly Extended
Category: Instability
Severity: 3 (Moderate)
Source: Drum Cussac
10/15/2017 (Iraq) - Media reports on Sunday, 15 October, indicate that an alleged deadline for Kurdish Peshmerga fighters to withdraw from strategic positions around the city of Kirkuk has been extended by 24 hours until early Monday morning. According to Kurdish authorities, government forces had demanded the withdrawal Kurdish fighters from positions along a river bank south of the city by 0200hrs on Sunday (2300 UTC, 14 October) amid a tense confrontation between the groups. Peshmerga fighters have retreated from some several positions in recent days but refused to cede the territory on Saturday, digging in along the river as government armoured vehicles deployed on the opposite bank. The Kirkuk region has seen increasingly tense confrontations as the government attempts to wrest control of the strategically significant oil-producing region from Kurdish forces who occupied the area during the Islamic State (IS) offensive in Iraq in 2014. The dispute over the region has escalated since the Kurdistan independence referendum on 25 September. Polling in the referendum was held in the autonomous Kurdish region as well as Kirkuk and other areas occupied since 2014, a move strongly condemned and rejected by Baghdad.
Travellers in Kirkuk are advised to monitor local media and liaise with in-country sources for further updates on the situation in the city. Those with operations in the region are advised to review contingency and evacuation plans in case of a rapid deterioration in the local security environment.
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