SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraq’s Joint Operations Command denied that there were any units of Peshmerga forces inside Kirkuk, but said there was coordination between both sides.
Spokesman of the joint operations command Major General Tahsin al-Khafaji said the Iraqi military and federal police were only being deployed to Kirkuk.
“There is coordination between them and the Peshmerga forces, but they are not inside Kirkuk,” state news agency quoted Khafaji as saying.
“There is joint work with the Peshmerga forces in combating terrorism and chasing organized crime, but there is no movement or deployment of the Peshmerga forces in Kirkuk,” he added.
The Iraqi forces along with Hashid al-Shaabi took control of Kirkuk and other disputed areas from Kurdish forces in October 2017.
Since then, no units of the Kurdish forces have been able to return to those areas due to a lack of agreement between Baghdad and Erbil.
