The high tensions among the Iraqi army, the Hashd al-Shaabi forces and the Peshmerga in and around Kirkuk erupted in brief clashes last night in Tuz Khurmatu. After the clashes subsided, by midnight the Hashd al-Shaabi forces started to surround the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) building on the Baghdad road and the wheat silos under Peshmerga control that have a strategic importance.

The Hashd al-Shaabi forces opened harassing fire occasionally on the peshmerga forces in the wheat silos. The peshmerga retaliated.

Clashes broke out for some 2 hours after the Hashd al-Shaabi forces detonated a bomb by the police checkpoint in the Hey Jamila neighborhood of Tuz Khurmatu.

There is no concrete information on the outcome of the clashes.