Iraqi forces seize town near Kirkuk from Kurdish militants

The Iraqi forces on Friday took full control of a town near the city of Kirkuk as part of the troops' redeployment in the disputed areas claimed by Baghdad and the Kurdish region, the Iraqi military said.

The Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) forces, federal police, and the paramilitary Hashd Shaabi redeployed in the town of Altun Kupri, some 40 km north of Kirkuk, and took full control of the town, the media office of the Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a brief statement.

However, the Kurdish media network of Rudaw said heavy clashes erupted in the morning between the Kurdish Peshmerga and the Iraqi forces in Altun Kupri, and the Kurdish forces managed to repel the advance of the security forces after burning two military vehicles for the Hashd Shaabi.

The strategic town of Altun Kupri is located between Kirkuk and the Kurdish regional capital of Erbil.

The advance toward Atlun Kupri came a few days after the Iraqi forces retook control of the oil installations, oil fields and pipelines in the oil-rich Kirkuk province and other disputed areas outside the Kurdish region.

On Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, also the commander-in-chief of Iraqi forces, ordered government forces to enter the oil-rich Kirkuk province in northern Iraq to regain control of the ethnically-mixed disputed areas.

Tensions are escalating between Baghdad and the region of Kurdistan after the Kurds held a controversial referendum on the independence of the Kurdistan region and the disputed areas.

The independence of Kurdistan is opposed not only by the Iraqi central government, but also by other countries as it would threaten the integrity of Iraq and undermine the fight against IS militants.

Iraq's neighboring countries, especially Turkey, Iran and Syria, fear that the Iraqi Kurds' pursuit of independence threatens their territorial integrity, as large Kurdish populations live in those countries.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)