Security forces intensify their presence in Kirkuk to contain

Police in Kirkuk have announced a curfew after one person was killed in armed clashes between Kurds and Turkmen, less than one week before the province votes in a highly divisive poll on independence from Iraq.

Police said in an official statement, quoted by Sky News Arabia, that curfew was to apply indefinitely after one Kurd was killed late Monday. He was killed in a clash with the sentry of a Turkmen political party’s office when Kurdish revellers celebrating the referendum passed by the facility, waving  Kurdish flags.

According to police, one Turkmen guard at the party’s office and two other Kurds were wounded in the ensuing encounters. Checkpoints were erected across the city. The developments come one day after Iraq’s Federal Court ruled to cancel the referendum Kurdistan Region had slated for September 25th, and a few days after the Iraqi parliament voted against it.

Since Kurdish authorities scheduled the vote, they have defied calls from Baghdad to postpone the measure. Baghdad’s government has warned against the move repeatedly, with Abadi warning lately of an army intervention if a “yes” vote results in violence. The central government has argued that the measure could throw Iraq into more chaos and distract attention from the fight against Islamic State militants.

Both Baghdad and Erbil have engaged in a political war of words as Erbil declared the inclusion of disputed territories as voting constituencies, most notably oil-rich Kirkuk, a region to which both governments claim sovereignty. The Iraqi parliament has also recently voted for removing Kirkuk governor Najm al-Din Karim, a vocal backer of the referendum, but the latter vowed to stay in office.

On the military side, Iraqi joint troops have started on Tuesday an offensive to liberate Islamic State’s havens in west of Anbar, the military media said. Al-Jazeera troops, backed by the Tribal Mobilization Forces launched wide-scale campaign to liberate al-Rayhana region as well as Annah town from IS, according to the Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell.

Meanwhile, Alghad Press reported that the militant group prevented civilians from fleeing toward the western side of the town, forcing them to stay at homes. However, the website’s correspondent said the troops are cautious in order not to harm civilians.

Moreover, a security source was quoted saying that the militants “completely evacuated Rayhana. Army forces started purging the road leading to Annah from planted landmines.”

“Troops are advancing toward Rayhana amid heavy shelling and air raids by the U.S.-led Coalition,” the source said. Iraqi joint troops managed earlier this week to liberate Akashat region, between Rutba town, on borders with Jordan, and Qaim, on borders with Syria.

Anbar’s western towns of Anah, Qaim and Rawa are still held by the extremist group since 2014, when it occupied one third of Iraq to proclaim a self-styled Islamic Caliphate. Iraqi troops were able to return life back to normal in the biggest cities of Anbar including Fallujah, Ramadi and others after recapturing them. Fighter jets from the Iraqi army and the international coalition regularly pound IS locations in the province.