Kurds ordered to defend Kirkuk ‘at any cost’

‘Intelligence shows there is an intention to take over nearby oil fields, airport and military base’

IRAQI Kurds have sent thousands of their Peshmarga troops to reinforce the contested city of Kirkuk amid fears the Iraqi army and Shiite militias are preparing a major offensive to wrest it from their control.

The Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) reported a significant Iraqi military and Popular Mobilization Forces build-up around the towns of Bashir and Taza, south of Kirkuk. The KRSC tweeted: “Intelligence shows intention to takeover nearby oil fields, airport and military base.”

An unnamed Iraqi general said: “Iraqi armed forces are advancing to retake the military positions that were taken over in June 2014.”

An estimated 6,000 Peshmerga forces have been sent to reinforce the city and an advisor to Kurdish President Masoud Barzani Hemin Hawrami tweeted they had been ordered to defend it “at any cost”.

The Kurds have controlled the oilrich area since the Iraqi military abandoned it three years ago during the Isil insurgency. They included Kirkuk in a contested referendum on independence last month.

However, Iraqi prime minister Haider Al-abadi has strongly denied his forces were advancing on the city, stating it was “fake news”.

He tweeted: “Our armed forces cannot and will not attack our citizens, whether Arab or Kurd.”

The move came as Turkish troops entered northeastern Syria in a manoeuvre they claim is a peacekeeping operation but which also aims to contain Syrian Kurdish forces.