KURDS WONT LET IRAQI ARMY ENTER KIRKUK Karzan Sabah BasNews, Kirkuk An Iraqi Kurdish member of the Provincial Council of the mixed city of Kirkuk has said that the Iraqi army has once more entered Kirkuk after withdrawing from the city last June when Islamic State militants attacked. The senior Kurdish official said that they won’t let the Iraqi army enter the city and they should fight elsewhere. In recent days, there have been reports of an Iraqi army re-deployment to Kirkuk and a Kurdish member of the Kirkuk Provincial Council says Kurds will let the Iraqi army joins them in Kirkuk to fight against Islamic State only under certain conditions. Muhammad Khalil said that the Kurdish conditions are that the Iraqi army should come alone; Shiite militia groups will not be welcome. Since the IS militants attack on the province and surrounding areas, a number of Shiite militia groups have entered the city on behalf of the Iraqi army and according to information obtained by BasNews, there are a number of Iranian soldiers among them. However, another Kurdish official from the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) told BasNews that they wouldn’t let Iraqi army enter the city in any shape or form. “If the Iraqi army wants to fight IS militants, then there are plenty more places they can go,” said Salah Dalo, a KDP senior official in Kirkuk. “Peshmerga forces have protected Kirkuk from IS and put forces in the provinces, we won’t let other people come in to the city,’ added Dalo. When the Iraqi army withdrew from Kirkuk in June and Peshmerga forces were deployed in the city, there was anger from the Iraqi government. Since then there have been calls from Baghdad for Peshmerga to withdraw, but so far they have stayed put. Dalo said that there are Islamic State insurgents in other Iraqi provinces like Anbar, Nineveh and Salahaddin, and they should fight in those provinces not Kirkuk.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 16:20:35 +0000
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