New deployments of Kurdish forces in the disputed Kirkuk province in
north Iraq are a “dangerous development” and an attempt to reach its oil
fields, a top Iraqi general said on Saturday.
“They want to reach (Kirkuk’s) oil wells and fields,” Staff General Ali Ghaidan Majeed, the commander of Iraqi ground forces, said, adding that the move breached an agreement whereby Kurdish peshmerga forces and Iraqi soldiers would maintain joint checkpoints.
“After consultations with the governor of Kirkuk, there has been a decision for peshmerga (security) forces to fill the vacuums in general, and especially around the city of Kirkuk,” Jabbar Yawar, secretary general of Iraqi Kurdistan’s peshmerga ministry, said in a statement.
“The intelligence service of the peshmerga has information that terrorist groups have plans to launch terrorist attacks in these regions,” Yawar said.
“Our only goal is to preserve the life of citizens.”
In the past week, a wave of violence has killed more than 200 people country-wide, including dozens in Kirkuk province.
“They want to reach (Kirkuk’s) oil wells and fields,” Staff General Ali Ghaidan Majeed, the commander of Iraqi ground forces, said, adding that the move breached an agreement whereby Kurdish peshmerga forces and Iraqi soldiers would maintain joint checkpoints.
“After consultations with the governor of Kirkuk, there has been a decision for peshmerga (security) forces to fill the vacuums in general, and especially around the city of Kirkuk,” Jabbar Yawar, secretary general of Iraqi Kurdistan’s peshmerga ministry, said in a statement.
“The intelligence service of the peshmerga has information that terrorist groups have plans to launch terrorist attacks in these regions,” Yawar said.
“Our only goal is to preserve the life of citizens.”
In the past week, a wave of violence has killed more than 200 people country-wide, including dozens in Kirkuk province.
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