Thousands of Iraqi troops were locked in an armed standoff with Kurdish forces in the disputed oil province of Kirkuk on Saturday as Washington scrambled to avert fighting between the key allies in the war against the Islamic State group. On the opposite bank, Kurdish peshmerga fighters were visible behind an earthen embankment topped with concrete blocks painted with the red, white green and yellow of the Kurdish flag. “Our forces are not moving and are now waiting for orders from the general staff,” an Iraqi army officer said, asking not to be identified. But thousands of heavily armed troops and members of the Popular Mobilisation Force (PMF), paramilitary units largely made up of Iran-trained Shia militias, have massed around Kirkuk. They have already retaken a string of positions to the south of the city after Kurdish forces withdrew.

Source: Dhaka Tribune October 14, 2017 15:33 UTC