At least one civilian has been killed as Kurds and Arabs hold demonstrations sparked by the handover of the local security headquarters to the Kurdish party.
A curfew has been imposed in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk after rival protests between Kurdish and Arab residents turned into deadly violence, officials said.
Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani ordered a curfew in Kirkuk and “extensive security operations in areas affected by the unrest,” his office said in a statement on Saturday.
He called on all parties to “do their part to prevent conflict and maintain security, stability and order in Kirkuk Governorate.”
At least one civilian was killed and eight people were injured, a local official said, after days of tension brewing in Kirkuk that have been contentious in the past between the federal government in Baghdad and authorities in the autonomous Kurdish region in the north.
Iraqi demonstrators block a road after protests in the multi-ethnic Iraqi city of Kirkuk [AFP]The identity and circumstances of the deaths were not immediately clear, local health authority director Ziad Khalaf told the Agence France-Presse news agency, adding that the injured had been hit by bullets, stones or glass. He said a member of the security forces was among the injured.
Arab residents had blocked a main road for days after local Iraqi security force headquarters were reportedly handed over to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
In 2014, the KDP and the Peshmerga, the security forces of the autonomous Kurdish region, seized control of Kirkuk, an oil-producing region in northern Iraq. Federal troops drove them out in 2017 after a failed referendum on Kurdish independence.
In recent tensions, police have been deployed to act as a buffer and keep the rival groups apart. Warning shots were fired on Saturday to force Kurdish protesters to disperse as they tried to reach security headquarters, an AFP correspondent said.
At least one civilian was killed and eight people were injured [AFP]The reporter said vehicles on a main road were set on fire.
Despite difficult relations and tensions in the past, al-Sudani’s government has largely managed to maintain friendly relations between Baghdad and the Kurdish capital of Erbil.
Al-Sudani, who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces, ordered security forces in the province to “fulfill their responsibilities in maintaining security and upholding the rule of law.”