Iraqi and Kurdish forces exchange gunfire

IRBIL, Iraq — Iraqi federal and Kurdish forces exchanged fire at their shared border on Friday, capping a dramatic week of maneuvers that saw the Kurds hand over territory across northern Iraq.

Iraqi forces shelled Kurdish military positions north and south of Altun Kupri, a town of about 9,000 people just outside the country’s autonomous Kurdish region, a day after Brig. Gen. Raad Baddai gave warning he was going to enter the town.

Organized Kurdish forces, known as the peshmerga, as well as irregular forces, responded with rocket fire.

By mid-day, Iraq’s Defense Ministry said anti-terrorism forces, the federal police and the country’s Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Front militias had taken the town.

But the peshmerga’s general command disputed that claim, saying Kurdish fighters fought off the advance and destroyed 10 humvees and an Abrams tank.

Ercuman Turkmen, a PMF commander, said from inside the town his forces were being targeted by sniper fire. Speaking to AP by phone, he said he had no orders to enter the Kurdish autonomous region.

There were no casualty reports but AP reporters saw ambulances outside the town.

The boundaries of the country’s Kurdish region have long been disputed between Baghdad and Irbil, the Kurdish capital, but Kurdish forces this week withdrew in most areas to positions they last held in 2014, effectively restoring the contours of the map to the time before the rise of the Islamic State group.