Kurdistan: Kurdish troops on high alert as Iraqi forces mass near Kirkuk
The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) has deployed thousands of troops around the disputed oil city of Kirkuk for fear of an attack by Iraqi government army and militia, a senior official said.
“Thousands of heavily armed peshmerga units are now completely in their positions around Kirkuk,” a top aide to KRG President Masoud Barzani posted on social media on Friday.
“Their order is to defend at any cost,” Hemin Hawrami wrote on Twitter.
According to the AP news agency, as many as 6,000 Kurdish troops have been deployed in the Kirkuk area.
The alert came after the Kurdish authorities accused the Iraqi government of massing forces in readiness for a reported offensive to seize Kurdish-held oil fields around Kirkuk, as tensions soared after a vote for independence last month.