(AP) Balint Szlanko and Philip Issa - Iraqi forces pushed their Kurdish allies out of the city of Kirkuk on Monday. Iraqi forces were supported by the Popular Mobilization Forces, a predominantly Shiite militia coalition that the Kurds see as an instrument of Iranian policy. As Arabs and Turkmen celebrated the change of power in Kirkuk, thousands of Kurdish residents packed the roads north to Irbil, the Kurdish capital. Kirkuk, a city of more than 1 million, is 32 km. (20 miles) outside the Kurds' autonomous region in northeast Iraq. It was taken by the Kurds in 2014 to block an advance by Islamic State after Iraq's armed forces crumbled.
2017-10-17 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive