Iraqi forces reestablish security in Kirkuk after pushing out Kurds

Iraqi forces ride atop a military vehicle as they advance toward villages between the northern cities of Hawija and Kirkuk on October 6, 2017, after retaking Hawija from the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group a day before. (Photo by AFP)

Iraqi government forces have established security over the northern city of Kirkuk after retaking contested territory from Kurdish militants.

Police have called on the residents, who had fled in their thousands for fear of a potential armed confrontation, to return, giving assurances that the situation is stable.

The city is now under a night-time curfew.

Government buildings, oil fields retaken

Iraq’s Alforat news agency also said army forces were now in control of all of the city’s government buildings, state-owned North Oil and North Gas companies, the Kirkuk International Airport, and K-1 Airbase.

Cited by Reuters, an Iraqi army officer said government forces had also taken control of all oilfields operated by the North Oil Company in the province.

Government troops have also reopened the highway linking the Kirkuk City and the capital Baghdad, Iraq’s al-Sumariyah television network reported.

Kurdish forces have been holding parts of Iraqi territory since 2014, when Daesh began an offensive across Iraq and the Kurds began fighting it and overrunning territory in the process.

The Baghdad government has long insisted that the Kurds pull out of the territories they had overrun. But the Kurdish militants have refused. Ever since a controversial referendum on secession in Iraqi Kurdistan on September 25, the Iraqi government has lost patience, sending security forces to retake Kurdish-held areas.

Iraqi forces discuss military tactics as they move toward Kurdish Peshmerga positions on the outskirts of the northern city of Kirkuk, on October 15, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Baghdad also ordered the Kurdistan region to swiftly hand over its border crossings and airports. The region refused and later sent thousands of Peshmerga and other militants to Kirkuk Province, which it has been claiming in its entirety for long.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered that national flags be hoisted on public buildings in all of Kirkuk’s neighborhoods.

Crowds on the streets of Kirkuk’s southern outskirts welcomed army forces as they entered the city.

The Peshmerga have called the takeover “a flagrant declaration of war” and vowed that Iraq will pay a “heavy price.”

Iraqi forces take control of Sinjar, other towns

Meanwhile, Iraqi army and Hashd al-Sha’bi forces have taken control of the city of Sinjar in Nineveh Province following a pullout by Kurdish militants.

Government forces took control of all of Sinjar on Tuesday after the withdrawal a day earlier of Kurdish Peshmerga militants.

The Peshmerga militants also left the towns of Bashiqa and Bahzani in Nineveh.

Kurds clash with police in London

Separately, Kurdish separatists have clashed with police in front of Iraq’s Embassy in London.

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry reacted by saying that the protesters had engaged in “criminal” activity and demanding that the UK investigate them.

‘Iran closes Kurdistan border crossing’

Following the referendum, Iraq demanded neighbors Iran and Turkey to close their respective borders with Kurdistan.

Iran closed its airspace with Iraqi Kurdistan at the time, and on Monday, Faramarz Akbari, the governor of Qasr-e-Shirin, said Iran had since a day earlier temporarily closed its Parviz Khan Border Crossing in Kermanshah Province, which borders Iraq's Kurdistan.

He said it would likely remain closed until Iraqi security forces replace the Kurdish militants on the borders.

This is the first time an Iranian official has confirmed the closure of a land border with Iraq's Kurdish region.