After the Iraqi army and Hashd al-Shaabi started attacks against the Kurdish forces controlling disputed areas on October 16, peshmerga forces resisted to some extent in Tuz Khurmatu, Pirde, Makhmur, Dubiz and Kirkuk.

According to data provided by Jabar Yawar, secretary general of the Ministry of Peshmerga in a press conference in Hewler, 60 peshmergas were killed and 150 were wounded in clashes between Kurdish forces and the Iraqi army with Hashd al-Shaabi militia in the mentioned disputed areas.

Yawar said the Iraqi forces and the Ministry of Peshmerga held talks three times in the wake of the incidents, adding; “We asked Iraq to cease clashes and switch to the pre-2014 mechanism. Until now there is no deal. But there is an effort to continue with negotiations.”

The Iraqi army and Shite militia captured almost all of the disputed areas from the Southern Kurdistan administration starting from Kirkuk in the wake of 16 October’s aggression.