Senior military commanders arrive in Kirkuk amid security tensions
Shafaq News / A source within the Iraqi Ministry of Defense reported on Thursday that high-ranking military leaders have arrived in the Kirkuk province to oversee the security situation following recent events in the disputed region between Erbil and Baghdad.
The source informed Shafaq News Agency that the Chief of Staff of the Army, Abdul Amir Yarallah, along with the Commander of Ground Forces, have arrived in Kirkuk to assess the security situation.
A few days ago, dozens of protesters, supportive of Arab and Turkmen political factions, blocked the main road connecting Kirkuk to Erbil in protest against the Kurdistan Democratic Party's intention to reopen its offices in Kirkuk, as per the political agreement with the State Administration Coalition, which includes the political forces that constitute the current federal government under Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani.
On Saturday evening, Kirkuk witnessed the descent of Kurdish demonstrators in areas predominantly inhabited by Kurds, demanding the reopening of the road and an end to the protests in front of the KDP offices. However, this resulted in gunfire, leading to casualties and injuries.
In response to the tensions accompanying the protests in Kurdish areas, Iraqi security authorities imposed a curfew in the Kirkuk province.
It's worth noting that the Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, had vacated its party offices and institutions in Kirkuk following the military operation launched by the federal government in the disputed areas after the Kurdistan Region's independence referendum in September 2017, which led to the withdrawal of Peshmerga and Asayish forces from those areas.
