A ceasefire has been reached between Baghdad and Iraq’s Kurdish minority, the US-led coalition has said, temporarily halting clashes that followed a controversial vote on Kurdish independence last month.
Colonel Ryan Dillon said the coalition was informed of the ceasefire on Friday morning and coalition officials are encouraging both sides to ensure “it’s not just temporary”.
Clashes broke out between Baghdad-led forces and Kurdish fighters known as the Peshmerga earlier this month when Iraq’s military retook the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
The Kurdish referendum on support for independence held in September stoked tensions between Irbil and Baghdad and well as across the region.
The ceasefire comes after more than two weeks of largely low-level clashes and warnings from the coalition that the dispute was distracting from the fight against Islamic State.