Kurds abandon posts in Kirkuk as Iraqi troops move in

Kurdish forces are falling back from their positions around Kirkuk as federal forces advance on the city and take up posts inside the disputed northern city.

Sporadic gunfire can be heard inside Kirkuk. Police at a checkpoint to the north said Kurdish families are leaving to Irbil, in the nearby autonomous Kurdish region, fearing attacks by the PMF.

The mostly Shiite Arab militias, known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, are viewed with deep suspicion by the city’s Kurdish community.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had previously vowed they would remain outside the city.

An Associated Press reporter on Monday saw the militiamen at posts in Turkmen areas on the western side of the city that had been abandoned by Kurdish forces.

Iraq’s military says it has seized two major oil fields outside the disputed city of Kirkuk from Kurdish forces.

The military says in a statement that federal forces are now in control of the North Oil Company and Baba Gurgur fields.

— AP