The Iraqi army on Monday launched an operation in the oil-rich Kirkuk city on Monday amid tension over last month's illegitimate independence referendum in northern Iraq's Kurdish region.
The Iraqi Defense Ministry said government forces have managed to capture an airbase south of Kirkuk as part of the operation.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the Kirkuk operation aims to enforce the authority of the federal government in the oil-rich city.
"My duty is to serve the citizens and protect the unity of the country, which is facing division as a result of insistence on holding the referendum," he said in a statement.
The Sept. 25 illegitimate referendum has faced strong opposition from most regional and international actors -- including the U.S., Turkey, and Iran -- who warned that the poll would distract from Iraq's fight against terrorism and further destabilize the region.
The Iraqi parliament has approved a set of measures against the Kurdish region, including the deployment of federal forces in disputed areas, including Kirkuk, which is disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.
IRAQI FORCES SEIZE TERRITORY FROM KURDS IN INDEPENDENCE DISPUTE
Iraqi forces seized a key military base, an airport and an oil field from Kurdish fighters Monday in disputed Kirkuk province in a major operation sparked by a controversial independence referendum.
The offensive, which follows weeks of soaring tensions between two US allies in the battle against the Daesh group, aims to retake oil and military sites that Kurdish forces took over during the fightback against the jihadists.
Thousands of residents were seen fleeing Kurdish-controlled Kirkuk city, according to an AFP journalist.
Iraqi and Kurdish peshmerga forces exchanged artillery fire early Monday south of the capital of the oil-rich province, after the launch of the operation overnight which triggered a spike in oil prices on world markets.
But after the initial clashes Iraqi forces made rapid progress, suggesting Kurdish fighters were withdrawing with little or no resistance.
Iraq's Joint Operations Command said its forces had retaken the K1 military base northwest of Kirkuk, the military airport east of the city and the Baba Gargar oil field, one of six in the disputed region.
The operation follows an armed standoff between Kurdish forces and the Iraqi army prompted by the September 25 non-binding referendum that produced a resounding "yes" for independence for the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
Baghdad has declared the vote -- held despite international opposition -- illegal.
Crisis talks on Sunday had made little headway in resolving the standoff, which has raised fears of fresh chaos just as Daesh are on the verge of losing their last strongholds in the country.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the operation was necessary to "protect the unity of the country, which was in danger of partition" because of the referendum.
"We call upon all citizens to cooperate with our heroic armed forces, which are committed to our strict directives to protect civilians in the first place, and to impose security and order, and to protect state installations and institutions," he said.
An AFP photographer saw columns of Iraqi troops heading towards Kirkuk from the south.
Multiple peshmerga fighters were injured in the initial clashes and hospitalised in Kirkuk, a local security source said.
But peshmerga forces loyal to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), a political party linked to Iraqi President Fuad Masum, who is himself a Kurd, were later reported to be withdrawing from areas under their control.
Pro-PUK forces were deployed south of the city, including at oil fields, while fighters loyal to the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), linked to Iraqi Kurd leader Massud Barzani who initiated the referendum, were deployed to the north.
Two people were killed in artillery exchanges at Tuz Khurmatu, 75 kilometres south of Kirkuk, a doctor at a city hospital said.
- 'DECLARATION OF WAR' -
On Sunday, Iraq's National Security Council said it viewed as a "declaration of war" the presence of "fighters not belonging to the regular security forces in Kirkuk", including fighters from the PKK terror organization.
For their part the Iraqi forces have said that they have no wish to enter Kirkuk but that they wish to retake military positions and infrastructure which were under their control before their troops withdrew in the face of hostility from the jihadists.
On the fringes of the town, they used loudspeakers to call on the peshmerga to give up their positions, local sources said.
Long claimed by the Kurds as part of their historic territory, the province has emerged as the main flashpoint in the dispute.
Polling during the referendum was held not only in the three provinces of the autonomous Kurdish region but also in adjacent Kurdish-held areas, including Kirkuk, that are claimed by both Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan.
The Kurds have been in control of six fields in the Kirkuk region providing some 340,000 of the 550,000 barrels per day exported by the regional administration.
The fields would provide crucial revenue to Baghdad, which has been left cash-strapped from the global fall in oil prices and three years of battle against Daesh.
KURDS WITHDRAW AS IRAQI FORCES PUSH INTO DISPUTED KIRKUK
Kurdish forces were withdrawing from Kirkuk on Monday as Iraqi federal forces moved in to the disputed city and seized oil fields and other infrastructure amid soaring tensions over last month's Kurdish vote for independence.
Kurdish officials accused the Iraqi army of carrying out a "major, multi-prong attack," and reported heavy clashes on the city's outskirts, but a spokesman for Iraq's state-backed militias said they encountered little resistance.
By midday, federal forces had moved into several major oil fields north of the city, as well as its airport and an important military base, according to Iraqi commanders. Kurdish party headquarters inside Kirkuk had been abandoned.
The U.S., which has armed, trained and provided vital air support to both sides in their shared struggle against the Daesh terrorist group, described Monday's events as "coordinated movements, not attacks," while bemoaning the dispute as a distraction against a common enemy. It said the limited exchange of fire was a "misunderstanding."
After initial reports of clashes in and around the city, it appeared by the afternoon as though the vastly outnumbered Kurdish forces, known as the peshmerga, were pulling out with hardly a fight.
Local police stayed in place in Kirkuk as Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi called on civil servants to remain at their posts to serve the city. "We have only acted to fulfill our constitutional duty and extend the federal authority and impose security and protect the national wealth in this city," he said.
Still, thousands of civilians could be seen leaving with their belongings heading north along the country roads that lead to Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.
Kirkuk, home to some 1 million Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and Christians, has been at the heart of a long-running dispute between the autonomous Kurdish region and the central government in Baghdad. Both are close allies of the U.S.
The Kurdistan Region Security Council said early Monday that the peshmerga destroyed at least five U.S.-supplied Humvees being used by Iraq's state-sanctioned militias following the "unprovoked attack" south of the city.
Brig. Gen. Bahzad Ahmed, a spokesman for Kurdish forces, said federal forces seized an oil and gas company and other industrial areas south of Kirkuk in fighting with Kurdish forces that caused "lots of casualties," without providing a specific figure.
He said Iraqi forces have "burnt lots of houses and killed many people" south of the disputed city. His claims could not be independently verified.
A spokesman for Iraq's state-sanctioned militias said they had "achieved all our goals" in retaking areas from Kurdish forces in and around the northern city. Ahmed al-Assadi said federal forces came under fire from "some rebels" after launching the operation early Monday and returned fire. He did not say whether they suffered any casualties.
He said federal forces have been deployed in the area of the K-1 military base, the Kirkuk airport and a number of oil fields and installations. The Iraqi military said it seized two major oil fields outside the city.
Al-Assadi said the state-backed militias, mainly Shiite Arab fighters known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, have not entered the city center, but Associated Press reporters saw Turkmen PMF militiamen taking up posts in the western part of the city.
Tensions have soared since the Kurds held a non-binding referendum last month in which they voted for independence from Iraq. The central government, along with neighboring Turkey and Iran, as well as the United States, rejected the vote.
The central government and the autonomous Kurdish region have long been divided over the sharing of oil revenues and the fate of disputed territories like Kirkuk that are controlled by Kurdish forces but are outside their self-ruled region.
The Kurds assumed control of Kirkuk, in the heart of a major oil-producing region, in the summer of 2014, when IS militants swept across northern Iraq and the country's armed forces crumbled.
Iraq has since rebuilt its armed forces with considerable U.S. aid, and they are battle-hardened and flush with victory after driving Daesh from most of the territory it once held. Fighting alongside the armed forces are tens of thousands of state-sanctioned militiamen, mainly Shiite Arab fighters backed by Iran, whom the Kurds view as an instrument of demographic change. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said the militias will remain outside the city.
State-run Al-Iraqiya TV had earlier reported that federal forces rolled into parts of the countryside outside Kirkuk without facing resistance. However, some residents of the city and an Iraqi militia commander reported shelling.
Al-Iraqiya carried a statement from al-Abadi's office saying he had ordered federal forces to "impose security in the city in cooperation with the inhabitants and the peshmerga," indicating he was willing to share administration.
Baghdad has been turning the screws on the Kurdish region since the September referendum, pushing Kurdish leaders to disavow the vote and accept shared administration over Kirkuk.
Iraq's government barred international flights to and from the region and asked neighboring Turkey and Iran to close their borders. Iran closed its three official crossings with the Kurdish region Sunday, Kurdish media reported. It also froze currency transfers to four banks operating in the Kurdish region.
Al-Abadi's Cabinet said Sunday that fighters from the PKK terror group were beginning to appear in Kirkuk, and declared that would be tantamount to an act of war.
IRAQ'S KURDISTAN SHUTS 350,000 BPD OF OIL OUTPUT DUE TO SECURITY
Iraq's Kurdistan has shut down some 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) of production from major fields Bai Hassan and Avana due to security concerns after a flare-up in tensions with the central government, trading sources told Reuters on Monday.
One trading source said he was informed by Kurdish operators that civilian workers at both fields were released following a build up of Iraqi military forces around the fields.
The operations were stopped and civilian employees will be able to return and operations will restart only when the intentions of Iraqi security forces are clear, the source added.
He added that the flows of oil from North Oil Co's Kirkuk oil field, which are under control of the central government, were continuing normally at an export rate of 90,000 bpd.
Iraq earlier warned Kurdish officials against shutting down Kirkuk oil flows.
IRAQ WARNS KURDISTAN NOT TO SHUT DOWN KIRKUK OIL FLOWS
Iraq said on Monday it was considering using security forces to prevent Kurdistan from shutting down output from the oil area of Kirkuk after tensions flared up between the central government and the semi-autonomous region.
"The oil ministry warned the Kurdish authorities not to attempt any action that would cause crude oil flow disruption from Kirkuk oilfield," a spokesman for North Oil Company told Reuters.
"We received signals from them (Kurdish officials) that they will shut down production operations in Kirkuk oilfield for security reasons but we understand that this is only a pretext to put pressure on Baghdad," the spokesman said.
"This won't work and all options are on the table to continue output flowing. We are coordinating with the central government and oil ministry to ask security forces to intervene and prevent Kurdish crews from mismanaging production operations at the Kirkuk oilfield," the spokesman said.
The Kirkuk oil area produces around 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) out of total Kurdish production of over 600,000 bpd.
DISPUTED TERRITORY AT HEART OF IRAQ-KURD CRISIS
The disputed territory, located south of Arbil, Sulaimaniyah and Dohuk provinces, is more than 1,000 kilometres long (620 miles), covers 37,000 square kilometres (14,000 sq miles), and home to an estimated 1.2 million Kurds.
The three provinces in the rugged, mountainous north of Iraq form the Kurdish region which has been autonomous since 1991.
Apart from the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, the main bone of contention between Baghdad and the Kurds, the disputed territory also includes parts of Salaheddin, Nineveh and Diyala provinces.
Iraqi Kurdistan, as recognised by Baghdad, is home to 5.5 million people and covers 75,000 square kilometres.
It became autonomous after the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait, as Western powers intervened to protect the Kurds against an onslaught by the forces of dictator Saddam Hussein.
The region gained formal autonomy in 2005 under a constitution which set up a federal republic in Iraq.
For the Kurds, the autonomous region enshrined in the constitution falls short of their historical claims to a larger region also including Kirkuk and its oil fields.
Kurdish peshmerga forces have been in sole control of a chunk of Kirkuk province since federal forces withdrew when faced with an offensive by the Daesh terror group in 2014.
They also moved into other disputed areas.
In stages, the peshmerga took control of 23,000 square kilometres across Kirkuk, Nineveh, Salaheddin and Diyala provinces.
They also hold the Makhmur region, which the Kurds claim as part of Arbil province although Iraqi authorities in the 1990s placed it under the jurisdiction of Nineveh.
Kurdish forces, key allies in the US-backed offensive against Daesh, are now refusing to surrender positions they took during the fightback against the jihadists.
Ties between Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan have been strained since the Kurds held a September 25 independence vote, including in Kirkuk, in defiance of the central government.
