Den irakiske hæren og shia-milits har sendt kolonner mot den kurdisk-kontrollerte byen Kirkuk. Det kan ikke tolkes på noen annen måte enn at Bagdad utfordrer kurderne.

Kirkuk er en viktig by som kontrollerer oljefelt i nærheten. Regjeringshæren smeltet vekk da IS rykket inn i 2014. Kurderne overtok senere kontrollen og akter ikke å gi den fra seg.

Begge parter og særlig USA forsøker å roe ned stemningen. Men det er et faktum at regjeringshæren og shia-milits har rullet inn og besatt to mindre byer sør for Kirkuk. Kurderne trakk seg tilbake.

Det skal ikke mye til for å utløse åpen konflikt.

A video distributed on social media on Friday showed an Iraqi soldier climbing a tower, removing a Kurdish flag and tossing it to the ground as other soldiers fired their weapons. The video said the incident was filmed in the Taza district.

BBC Orla Guerin som er til stede, ga en mer dramatisk fremstilling enn det partene selv ønsker skal komme ut:

However, the BBC’s Orla Guerin saw a convoy of soldiers, federal police and Shia militiamen from the paramilitary Popular Mobilisation force moving towards Kirkuk.

Some made victory signs from armoured personnel carriers. One said they were going to Kirkuk to crush the Kurds.

Our correspondent says this may be just a show of force by Baghdad, but that it is a risky move. There are fears that Kirkuk could be the spark that ignites a civil war, she adds.

Hemin Hawrami, a spokesman for Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdish region, said pesh merga forces in Kirkuk city had been reinforced by several thousand volunteers as part of a “rapid reaction plan” in response to reports of a buildup of Iraqi forces outside the city. The presence of reinforcements could not be independently confirmed.

“Do not test our will,” Mr. Hawrami said in a statement.

Kurdistans regjering har svart med å sende flere tusen peshmerga-soldater til Kirkuk, i tillegg til tusenvis som allerede er der. Hvis Bagdad og shia-milits tror kurderne kan skremmes, tar de feil.

Visepresident Kosrat Rasul advarer Bagdad.

Overnight, the Kurdistan Region Security Council expressed alarm at what it called a significant build-up of pro-government tanks, artillery, Humvees and mortars in Bashir and Taz, in southern Kirkuk.

“These forces are approx 3km from Peshmerga forces. Intelligence shows intention to takeover nearby oil fields, airport and military base,” it said on Twitter.

On Friday morning, Mr Rasul was quoted by the Rudaw news agency as saying at least 6,000 Peshmerga fighters had been sent to Kirkuk to support the tens of thousands already stationed there.

“There are threats by the Iraqi army that has deployed forces near Kirkuk supposedly to attack Kirkuk. But I don’t believe it will be easy for them to do that.”

“We do not want war, and we seek to solve problems through dialogue,” he added.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-41607823