The Baghdad government recaptured territory across the breadth of northern Iraq from Kurds on Tuesday, making startlingly rapid gains in a sudden campaign that has shifted the balance of power in the country almost overnight. In the second day of a lightning government advance to take back towns and countryside from forces of the Kurdish autonomous region, Kurdish troops known as Peshmerga pulled out of the long disputed Khanaqin area near the Iranian border. The government advances have redrawn the map of northern Iraq, rolling back gains by the Kurds who infuriated Baghdad last month by holding a referendum on independence. Prime Minister Haidar Abadi ordered his troops on Monday to raise their flag over all Kurdish-held territory outside the autonomous region itself. Kirkuk is the base of Iraq’s Northern Oil Company, one of the two giant state energy firms that provide nearly all government revenue.

Source: Dhaka Tribune October 17, 2017 13:18 UTC