Flights to Kurdish region banned

BAGHDAD — The rift between the Iraqi government and Kurdish leaders vying for independence grew wider Friday, with Baghdad imposing a ban on international flights to airports operated by the Kurds.

The ban was the first major step taken by Iraq’s central government to express its outrage over a referendum Monday on independence. Nearly 93 percent of voters in the Kurdistan region approved taking steps toward declaring an autonomous Kurdish state in northern Iraq.

Baghdad has further threatened to close land borders between Kurdistan and the rest of Iraq and to send troops into the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk, heightening concerns in Washington and regional capitals of a fresh wave of armed conflict in an already combustible country battling the Islamic State.

Iraq’s government has said that all measures to isolate the Kurdish region would be temporary and reversed if the Kurdistan Regional Government annuls the results of the referendum, which Iraq’s Supreme Court has deemed unconstitutional. Baghdad’s stand has drawn support from neighboring Turkey and Iran, which have their own restive Kurdish populations

The Iraqi military on Friday also closed a major road linking the Arab city of Mosul to the Kurdish city of Dahuk, cutting off a key route for basic goods between the two hubs.

Kurdish officials have called the measures illegal and have pleaded for international support in confronting threats from Baghdad, Tehran and Ankara. But, so far, even strong allies of the Kurds such as the United States have declined to take a public stance in support of their independence vote. The United States had urged the Kurds to delay the referendum.