Three Iraqi army soldiers killed in clashes with Peshmerga in Mosul
Iraqi army armoured fighting vehicles (AFV) cross as military pontoon bridge one the way to the frontline in western Mosul, Iraq June 7, 2017. Picture taken June 7, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Three Iraqi army soldiers died Tuesday in clashes with Kurdish Peshmerga forces north of Mosul, according to an army source.
Maj. Abbas al-Bayyati told Anadolu Agency that a force of the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service, backed by the 9th armoured division, advanced towards the town of Tel Saqf, a mainly Christian town north of Mosul, to impose federal security control there, but was met with fire from Peshmerga.
Bayyati told the agency three army members were killed while two others were injured. He said there were losses on the Peshmerga side, too, but could not give an exact toll.
He was quoted by the agency saying that Peshmerga troops will be handled as an enemy if they reject the call to withdraw.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell denied Kurdish media reports of clashes between Popular Mobilization Forces and Peshmerga in Mahmoudia and Rabia, Mosul, were inaccurate.
Iraqi troops, backed by Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), took over Kirkuk province from Kurdish Peshmerga fighters earlier this month, fulfilling instructions made earlier by Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi to retake areas where sovereignty is disputed with Kurdistan Region’s Government. The military takeover came after Kurdistan voted in September to secede from Iraq.