After a fragile truce following several days of fighting, clashes between the two sides resumed at 5 pm local time on Monday, with the sound of gunfire ringing throughout the night and only stopping shortly after dawn the next morning. The latest clashes reignited after the Shiite forces lobbed grenades against the Kurdish troops.
The fighting, which began on Saturday, has reportedly left at least six Peshmerga dead , with casualties among the Shiite militia estimated at 40 dead and 67 wounded. At least four civilians also have been reported dead and six wounded.
Water and electricity were both cut off due to the fighting, in which several homes have been burnt down
Hashd fighters reportedly also torched a shelter that belonged to the Kurdish Islamic League in the latest violence. Many families were reportedly fleeing the town.
The belligerents were expected to meet later Tuesday in hopes of resolving the tensions that led to fighting, but sources told Rudaw just before midday that the planned meeting in nearby Kirkuk city was canceled.
Khurmatu is among the vast territories that remain in dispute between Iraq’s central government in Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the north.
But after Iraqi forces fled large parts of the country in the face of an offensive by the Islamic State (ISIS) in June 2014 – leaving land and massive caches of weapons to the militants – Kurdish Peshmerga forces moved in to their claimed areas, and Kurdish President Masoud Barzani declared that the areas were no longer in dispute.
Tensions began after Shiite residents began taking up arms and declaring loyalty to the Hashd al-Shaabi militia that has become a de facto attachment of the Iraqi Army and taking its orders from the Shiite government in Baghdad.
Tensions had been simmering since then, but they erupted into deadly violence after the deaths of several Peshmerga commanders in fighting. The total death toll among the Peshmerga lies at six commanders and officers dead and 17 wounded.
“The Peshmerga settled here in Khurmatu to provide security We as Peshmerga force are settled here in khurmatu to protect the lives of the civilians,” a Peshmerga told Rudaw.
On Monday, KRG Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani condemned the violence in Khurmatu, reminding all parties that they must remain focused on their common enemy – ISIS.
“We condemn any sort of violence in Khurmatu, because we all have a common enemy (ISIS), therefore we should not point the barrels of our rifles at each other," Talabani told Rudaw.
"What has happened in Khurmatu is heartbreaking and we are saddened by this," Talabani added. "It is not the first time these kinds of problems have happened... It has to be eradicated."
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Khurmatu clashes in photos:
