Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Friday 20 OctOber 2017
Iraqi court issues arrest warrant for Kurdish vice president

airstrikes by the U.S.-led co- Press reporters saw only a
alition and an array of forc- handful of PMF vehicles
es battling it on the ground. among a dominantly fed-
At its peak it held a third of eral police and security
both countries. presence inside Kirkuk.
In Kirkuk, residents were The city felt calm, apart
coming to terms on Thurs- from sporadic reports of
day with the handover of looting. The U.N. said more
the city back to Baghdad than 60,000 people fled the
authorities. Many felt the city on Monday, fearing
two leading Iraqi Kurdish clashes and leaving homes
parties had betrayed their empty and unguarded.
people and had ordered Later, thousands returned.
the peshmerga to pull back Another Kurdish resident,
with hardly a fight. Hassan Anwar, said he
Jumaa Khalaf said she felt was disturbed to see pho-
“humiliated” by the two tos of Iraqi Kurdish leader
parties over the withdraw- Masoud Barzani burned in
al. “They trampled on the the city. “I feel like it’s my
dignity of the peshmerga,” father’s photo that’s been
she said. Many Kurds are burnt,” he said.
wary of the Shiite-led mili- The Kurds make up a por-
Kurdish security forces stand guard in their defensive position in Alton Kupri, outskirts of Irbil, Iraq, tias that helped Iraqi forces tion of the multi-ethnic
Thursday Oct. 19. 2017. retake the city. The Popular Kirkuk’s 1.2 million residents,
(AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) Mobilization Forces, as they living among Arabs and
By BALINT SZLANKO against Kosrat Rasul is un- rolled into the oil-rich city are known, are predomi- Turkmen.
PHILIP ISSA likely to be executed as of Kirkuk, forcing Kurdish nantly Shiite and backed The Kurds have already
Associated Press the central government in militias, known as the pesh- by Iran, and seen by Kurds withdrawn from most ar-
KIRKUK, Iraq (AP) — A Baghdad has no enforce- merga, to withdraw after as agents of Arab- and Shi- eas in northern and eastern
Baghdad court issued an able authority in the Kurd- brief clashes. ite-first policy. Iraq that they took during
arrest warrant for the vice ish-administered north. The Kurds took over the city PMF commanders held the war against the jihadis.
president of Iraq’s autono- The court accused Rasul in 2014 when Iraq’s army a press conference from In the battle against IS, the
mous northern Kurdish re- of “insulting” Iraq’s armed melted away ahead of the the center of Kirkuk on Kurdish forces fought on
gion on Thursday for saying forces, which is forbidden Islamic State’s blitz across Wednesday, despite orders the same side as the Iraqi
that Iraqi forces had “oc- by Iraqi law. northern and western Iraq. from Baghdad not to enter military and the PMF. Both
cupied” the disputed prov- On Monday, Iraq’s fed- IS has since seen its hold on the city, further provoking the Kurds and Iraq’s central
ince of Kirkuk this week. eral forces, supported by Iraq and north Syria crum- fears of ethnic strife. government are military al-
However, the warrant Iranian-sponsored militias, ble in the face of relentless On Thursday, Associated lies of the United States. q

Taliban attacks kill 58 across Afghanistan

By AMIR SHAH policemen, according to vincial police chief. Scores
Associated Press Shir Jan Durani, spokesman were also wounded, both
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) for the provincial police policemen and civilians. Af-
— The Taliban have killed chief. ghanistan’s deputy interior
at least 58 Afghan secu- And a Taliban attack on minister, Murad Ali Murad,
rity forces in a wave of at- police posts in western called Tuesday’s onslaught
tacks across the country Farah province, also late the “biggest terrorist attack
overnight, including an as- Wednesday, killed nine po- this year.”
sault that nearly wiped out licemen, said police chief Over the past two years
an army camp in southern Abdul Marouf Foulad. He and after the withdrawal
Kandahar province, offi- said 22 insurgents were of most foreign combat
cials said Thursday. killed in the ensuing gun- troops, the Taliban have
The attack on the army battle. stepped up attacks and
camp took place late on Afghan forces have strug- spread from their southern
Wednesday and involved gled to combat a resur- heartland across the coun-
two suicide car bombs, said gent Taliban since U.S. try.
spokesman Dawlat Wazir. It and NATO forces formally Attacks in the north have
set of hours of fighting, kill- concluded their combat also increased. In such a
ing at least 43 soldiers. mission at the end of 2014, climate, the Kabul govern-
Nine other soldiers were switching to a counterter- ment has dismissed peace
wounded and six have rorism and support role. talks with the Taliban but
gone missing, Wazir said, The Taliban unleashed a CIA Director Mike Pompeo
adding that 10 attackers wave of attacks across Af- said on Thursday that the
were killed. ghanistan on Tuesday, tar- United States is going to do
The Taliban claimed re- geting police compounds everything it can to bring
sponsibility for the attack in and government facilities the Taliban to the negotiat-
a media statement. with suicide bombers, and ing table in Afghanistan.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, killing at least 74 people, of- However, for that to hap-
a Taliban ambush in the ficials said. pen, Pakistan must first deny
northern Balkh province Among those killed in one the militants a safe haven
late Wednesday killed six of the attacks was a pro- on its soil, said Pompeo.q