Dispute between Iraqi military and Kurdish Peshmerga turns deadly, killing 4

The Iraqi military and Kurdish Peshmerga forces briefly clashed Sunday in a dispute over control of a strategic military post, resulting in four deaths, Iraq’s military spokesperson and a military source said.

The dispute was over who controls three vacated posts previously in the hands of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants. It marked further tension in a fragile alliance between the Iraqi military and Kurdish Peshmerga forces of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region inside federal Iraq.

Two security officials said the posts are located in Mount Qarah Dagh within the Makhmour district, a strategic location that borders Irbil and Nineveh, between the two regions.

On Thursday, the PKK announced they were vacating the positions, citing what they said was the declining threat of the extremist Daesh group in the area. They had held the military position since 2014, during the global war on the group.

But Peshmerga fighters from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the ruling party in Iraqi Kurdistan, tried to retake the positions on Sunday, triggering the clashes, sources said.

Iraqi military spokesman Yahya Rasool said three were killed and seven others were wounded in the fighting, without mentioning the identities of the casualties.

But army and Peshmerga sources said that two Iraqi army soldiers and one Peshmerga fighter were killed instantly, and Peshmerga lieutenant colonel died of his wounds later.

Six Iraqi soldiers and five Peshmerga fighters were wounded. Two of the Iraqi soldiers were in critical condition, said health service sources.

The clashes lasted for around two hours before abating when commanders from both sides sought to defuse tensions, said military and Peshmerga sources.

Iraqi army troops are still in control over the mountainous positions, said three army sources.

But both sides are sending reinforcements to the area, said military sources, calling the situation “fragile.”

Last time armed clashes broke out between the two parties was in 2017 when Iraqi government forces launched a surprise offensive in retaliation for an independence referendum organized by the Kurdish regional government.