BICOM

Iraq’s Interior Ministry has said that Kurdish forces have withdrawn from the disputed eastern Iraqi territories of Jaloula, Khaniqain, and Mandali, close to the Iranian border.

Iraqi forces captured Kirkuk earlier this week following the recent disputed independence referendum held by the Kurdish authorities.

A statement issued by the Iraqi military on Wednesday announced that security had been “restored” in previously Kurdish-held sectors of Kirkuk province, including Dibis, Multaqa, and the Khabbaz and Bai Hassan North and the South oil fields. It said: “Forces have been redeployed and have retaken control of Khanaqin and Jalawla in Diyala province, as well as Makhmur, Bashiqa, Mosul dam, Sinjar and other areas in the Nineveh plains.”

The Kurdish military leadership says its forces will only withdraw to points held before 17 October 2016, when Iraqi and Kurdish forces began fighting to recapture the country’s second largest city, Mosul, from the Islamic State group. The Iraqi Government in Baghdad has demanded that the Kurdish authorities return all of the country’s “disputed territories”. These are primarily areas that Kurdish forces have captured since 2014 whilst fighting ISIS, after ISIS had routed Iraqi national forces.

In a televised address on Tuesday, Iraqi President Fuad Masum said troops had no choice but to take over the administration of Kirkuk because last month’s independence referendum “provoked dangerous disputes”. He added that “holding a referendum on the Kurdistan region’s independence from Iraq stirred grave disagreements between the central government and the government of Kurdistan”.

The UN Security Council (UNSC) issued a statement last night about the recent fighting in Kirkuk and “expressed concern over recent reports of violence…[and] called on all sides to refrain from the threat and use of force and to engage in constructive dialogue as a pathway to de-escalation and a means to preserve Iraqi unity while upholding the provisions of the Iraqi constitution. Council members reaffirmed their respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and unity of Iraq, as well as the importance of remaining focused on efforts to defeat the Islamic State”.