KIRKUK, Iraq — Hundreds of displaced Sunni Arab families have had to leave Kirkuk after a Daesh attack on the Kurdish-controlled city, humanitarian workers and residents said on Tuesday.
The Sunni families, who had been sheltering in Kurdish-controlled Kirkuk province from the conflict with Daesh, began moving out after authorities told them on Sunday to leave or face being forcibly expelled, the sources said.
About 330,000 Sunni Arabs have taken refuge in the oil-rich Kirkuk province in the last two years, after Daesh swept through northern, central and western Iraq in 2014.
Some had fled because of the fighting and others because of the Daesh group’s harsh rules and the difficult living conditions in their villages and towns.
Daesh fighters stormed police stations and buildings in Kirkuk on Friday, killing about 100 security force members and civilians. Sixty-three militants also died in the heavy fighting that lasted until Sunday, when authorities restored control.
The terrorists carried out the operation to relieve pressure on Mosul, the last major city stronghold of Daesh in Iraq, where the group is fighting off an offensive by Iraqi army units and Kurdish forces backed by a US-led coalition.
The militants are suspected to have come from Hawija, a pocket still under their control west of Kirkuk.
More than 250 families were counted leaving at a main exit checkpoint on Monday and more were crossing on Tuesday, a local humanitarian worker said, adding that some were heading to other camps for displaced people and others trying to return home.
Spokespeople at the migration ministry in Baghdad and the Kurdish provincial authorities declined to comment.
Kirkuk is the most disputed area of Iraq because of its complex population mix. The Kurds took full control of the province in 2014 after Daesh overran much of the north of the country and several divisions of the Iraqi army disintegrated. Arabs complain that Kurds have since flooded to Kirkuk to tilt the demographic balance, while Kurds say they are simply redressing historic wrongs perpetrated by Saddam Hussein. — Reuters
