Iraq army official denies Kurdish forces' return to Kirkuk

A spokesman for the Commander in Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces, Major General Yahya Rasoul, yesterday denied media reports claiming Kurdish Peshmerga forces had returned to Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

“The joint coordination centres between the federal government forces and the regional guard forces represented by the Peshmerga are important, and the duties of these centres are to exchange information against Daesh terrorist gangs,” Rasoul said in a statement, adding: “There is no movement by the Peshmerga forces within the federal government territory.”

“The Peshmerga have not returned to Kirkuk. Rather, a joint federal coordination centre under the Iraqi army administration will be established, with the presence of liaison officers from the interior ministry and the Peshmerga to exchange information and coordinate,” he explained.

Last Saturday, Russia Today reported a senior Iraqi military commander as saying that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s Peshmerga forces had returned to the city of Kirkuk.

In 2017 the city became the scene of a conflict between Kurdish forces and the Iraqi government which was trying to regain control of the disputed territory after Peshmerga forces had controlled it following their defeat of Daesh.

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