Daesh exploiting Baghdad-Erbil disputes: Kurd region PM

The Daesh terrorist group is seeking to exploit differences between Baghdad and northern Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said Friday.

Speaking to reporters in Erbil, the KRG's administrative capital, Barzani stressed the "positive atmosphere" between Baghdad and the KRG.

"We must work together to stop any return of Daesh, which still maintains a presence in areas of dispute [between Baghdad and Erbil]," Barzani said.

In late 2017, federal forces moved into several parts of Iraq disputed between Erbil and the central government.

The deployments, which followed an illegitimate referendum on Kurdish regional independence, saw the accompanying withdrawal of Peshmerga forces from these areas.