Clashes between Kurdish forces, Shiite fighters kill 7 in Iraq

Heavy clashes erupted on Thursday between Iraqi Kurdish forces and Shiite fighters in an ethnically mixed town in northern Iraq, killing six militants and a child, a provincial security source said.

The clashes sparked when a patrol of Shiite Turkoman militants linked to the paramilitary units, known as Hashd Shaabi, refused to stop at a checkpoint manned by Kurdish security members, known as Peshmerga, in the town of Tuz-Khurmato, some 90 km east of Salahudin's provincial capital city of Tikrit, which itself located some 170 km north of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Dozens of snipers from both sides took positions on buildings in the town and sporadic clashes continued in the town until evening, the source said.

The several-hour clashes with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons resulted in the killing of four Hashd Shaabi members and two Peshmerga members, while eight from both sides were wounded by the clashes, the source said, adding that a child caught in cross fire was also killed.

Local authorities announced curfew in the town, while officials, political and security leaders carried out urgent talks in the local government building to bring calm in the town, the source added.

The ethnically mixed city of Tuz-Khurmato is part of the disputed area claimed by the Kurds, the Arabs and the Turkomans. The Kurds want to incorporate the area on the edge of their Kurdistan region, something fiercely opposed by the central government in Baghdad.

Iraq has been witnessing some of the worst violence in years. Terrorism and violence have left at least 12,282 civilians dead and 23,126 others injured in 2014, making it the deadliest year since the flareup of sectarian violence in 2006-2007, according to a recent United Nations report. Endit