The Kurds were seeking to redress 35 years of ethnic cleansing, encouraging those expelled from
Kirkuk to return while at the same time pressuring "new" citizens brought up from the south to leave.
The statement added that the Iraqi pro-government forces have restored security to the villages of Maryam Beik, Maktab Khalid passageway, Maktab Khalid, al-Riyadh road, al-Rashaad road, New area, Daqouq area, Yayzi area, Turklan police center, Majsar Tikrit, al-Houli road South of
Kirkuk and two oilfields of Bay Hassan and Afana.
The region around
Kirkuk was known historically in the Eastern Aramaic and Syriac Assyrian sources as "Beth Garmai".
The unnamed source added that ambulances rushed to the scene and transferred bodies to the forensic medicine and the wounded to
Kirkuk hospital for necessary medical treatment.
At the same time, the day of female suicide bombers was yielding massacres in Baghdad although the situation in
Kirkuk was far more serious.
They only care about
Kirkuk, and they only care about
Kirkuk because of the oil."
With its mix of Arab, Assyrian, Kurdish and Turkomen communities,
Kirkuk is something of a test case for co-existence and stability in the new Iraq.
The Hashd al-Sha'abi fighters were deployed reinforcements to Tis'een neighborhood in the provincial capital city of
Kirkuk, claiming they would protect residents in the area, Kurdistan 24 reported.
Baghdad: Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki has commissioned a special committee of the Council of Ministers to urgently prepare a report on the potential outbreak of armed conflict in
Kirkuk.