TENSIONS RISE IN IRAQ AS KURDS FEAR ATTACK BY GOVT FORCES

Arbil, Oct. 12: Tensions escalated between Iraq’s Kurds and Baghdad on Thursday as warnings of a “major attack” by government forces that prompted Kurdish peshmerga fighters to temporarily block roads from other parts of the country.

The move came just over two weeks ago after Kurdish voters had overwhelmingly backed independence in a non-binding referendum the central government slammed as illegal. Iraqi Kurdish forces had closed the two main roads that connects Arbil and Dohuk with Mosul for several hours, a Kurdish military official said.