|
Iraqi Kurdistan puts Kurdish security
Peshmerga forces on high alert
17.11.2012 |
|
|
|
The president of Iraq's Kurdistan region has ordered
its Peshmerga security forces on high alert.
Photo: Reuters/UKS
•
See Related Articles
November 17, 2012
ERBIL-Hewlęr,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq'— The president of Iraq's
Kurdistan region has ordered its Peshmerga security
forces on high alert, a statement issued on Saturday
said, attributing the move to clashes with central
government forces.
An Iraqi general however said that the clashes in
question came during an arrest attempt and did not
involve the Peshmerga.
Tensions between Baghdad and the autonomous
Kurdistan region in northern Iraq have been running
high after the establishment of a new military
command covering disputed territory, and over
various other long-running disputes.
Kurdistan president Massoud Barzani called "on the
Peshmerga forces to exercise restraint in the face
of provocations, but also to be in a highest state
of readiness to face any aggressive acts," the
statement on his website said.
It said the alert followed clashes between central
government forces and Peshmerga in the disputed town
of Tuz Khurmatu on Friday "in which one person died
and several were wounded."
But the head of Baghdad's recently established
Tigris Operations Command, Lieutenant General
Abdulamir al-Zaidi, told AFP that the incident did
not involve the Peshmerga and was rather an attempt
to arrest a man accused of offences including murder
and kidnapping.
The establishment of the command, based in Kirkuk
city and covering all of the province of the same
name as well as neighbouring Salaheddin and Diyala,www.ekurd.net
has drawn an angry response from Kurdish leaders who
want to incorporate much of the area into their
autonomous region.
The dispute over the command strikes at the heart of
an unresolved row between Baghdad and the Kurdish
regional government in Erbil over territory, oil and
the interpretation of Iraq's federal constitution.
Copyright ©, respective author or news agency,
AFP
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the
content of news information on this page
|
®
