Army takes last Kurd-held area of Kirkuk province: security source

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October 20, 2017 9:26 AM

Iraqi forces clashed with Kurdish fighters Friday and retook control of the last sector of the disputed province of Kirkuk, near the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, a security official said.

"The army, police and counter-terrorism forces entered the centre of the Altun Kupri region," 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Arbil, the Kurdish capital in northern Iraq, said the source, asking not to be named.

"There were clashes but they managed to launch the assault... and hoist the flag on the municipality building," said the security source in the oil-rich province.

The agricultural region of Altun Kupri, which means "golden bridge" in Turkish, is inhabited by Kurds and also has a Turkmen community, and it covers an area of 520 square kilometres (200 square miles).

Since Sunday, federal forces backed by allied paramilitary units have driven Kurdish peshmerga fighters out of Kirkuk as well as disputed areas of Niniveh and Diyala provinces.

The advance has been mostly without resistance, with the peshmerga pulling out under an agreement between some Kurdish leaders and Baghdad.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered the operation to establish central authority three weeks after the Kurds held an independence referendum in their three-province autonomous region as well as the disputed areas in defiance of Baghdad.

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