Three Iraqi soldiers lost their lives in a skirmish with Kurdish Peshmerga forces on Sunday, over control of military posts in the disputed Makhmour area of northern Iraq. The clash, which lasted approximately two hours, also left seven others injured from both factions.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani has initiated an investigation and called for restraint among military leaders of both the Iraqi federal forces and the Peshmerga. Yahia Rasoul, the spokesman for the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, announced the prime minister’s directive.
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An army officer, speaking anonymously, said the confrontation was triggered by a dispute over the control of three posts near the Makhmour refugee camp, roughly 60 km southeast of Mosul. Both Iraqi and Kurdish forces asserted their rights to these posts, following the recent withdrawal by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
Makhmour is part of territories claimed by both Baghdad and the semi-autonomous Kurdish region. The area has been a flashpoint for years, as ethnic Kurds have sought to incorporate the oil-rich province of Kirkuk and other territories into the Kurdish region, a proposition strongly resisted by the Iraqi government.