Pre- vote clashes beset Iraq’s Kirkuk

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s ethnically mixed and contested city of Kirkuk was on a nighttime curfew Tuesday after clashes there the previous night between Kurds and Turkmen amid preparations for the contested Kurdish independence referendum next week, a local Turkmen official said.

The Iraqi Kurds plan to hold the referendum Monday in three governorates that make up their self- ruled region, as well as in disputed areas that are controlled by Kurdish forces, including Kirkuk.

Baghdad, Turkey, Iran and the international community have rejected the vote and asked the Kurds to call it off to avoid further destabilizing the region.

Shortly after sunset Monday, gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on one of the offices of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, said Mohammed Samaan Kanaan, in charge of the Front’s offices. The guards returned fire, killing one and wounding two of the assailants, Kanaan added.

Hours later, a police patrol that included the brother of the slain assailant attacked another office, Kanaan said. The fighting ended when a large ethnically mixed force reached the scene.

The provincial police chief, Brig. Gen. Khattab Omar, said an investigation committee made up of all ethnic groups is investigating the incident. He blamed “reckless enthusiastic youths” for the skirmishes and said that arrests have been made.