As Iraqis and Kurds Square Off Over Kirkuk, City Life Goes On<br />On Twitter on Friday, Mr. Abadi called reports of an impending assault "fake news." On Sunday night, Mr. Abadi accused Kurdish leaders of bringing fighters from<br />the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Turkey into Kirkuk, calling it "a declaration of war against the rest of Iraq and its federal forces." He provided no evidence.<br />Tensions in Kirkuk were already high on Saturday night after news reports said Iraqi forces had issued a 2<br />a.m. Sunday deadline for Kurdish forces to withdraw from contested areas or face unspecified consequences.<br />On Sunday in Dibis, about 30 miles northwest of Kirkuk, Kurdish soldiers known as pesh merga filed in<br />and out of a command post near oil fields that emitted black smoke from gas flares.<br />They say Iraqi government forces have massed south of Kirkuk to prepare for an assault on the city and oil fields.<br />Late Sunday, Iraq’s foreign ministry announced that Iran, at Iraq’s request, had closed its borders with Iraq near the Kurdish region.<br />On Friday, pesh merga troops withdrew from two small districts south of Kirkuk, allowing Iraqi government forces to take over their positions.
