Conflicting reports emerged on Sunday over the movement of an Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) unit towards the disputed Garmian region.
The region, which boasts three oilfields, is located between the Diyala, Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah provinces that are disputed between Arab and Kurds in Iraq.
Even though Garmian lies out of the administrative control of the Sulaymaniyah and Iraqi Kurdistan Region, it is effectively under the control of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
The PMF had never advanced on Garmian before, said Kurdish sources.
The incursion may be tied to the rivalry between various Kurdish parties, notably the two main forces the PUK and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
Leading PUK officials condemned the incursion and called on Baghdad to intervene.
PUK sources confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the PMF withdrew from the area following party contacts with the ruling Coordination Framework in Baghdad.
Other sources said the incursion may have been related to vague security arrangements between the PUK and PMF after the position of Kirkuk governor had been assumed by a PUK loyalist.
Other Kurdish sources offered a different account. They told Asharq Al-Awsat that the PMF unit was accompanying an oil company that was keen on investing in an oilfield in the area.
Commenting on the incursion, the PMF explained that it launched a “surprise security operation” to crack down on terrorist cells in the region.
It did not disclose whether the unit had retreated from the area.
A senior official in the Peshmerga said that after the Kurdish force contacted Baghdad, the PMF will withdraw from the area because it carried out its incursion without prior coordination with the authorities in the area.
A Kurdish journalistic source told Asharq Al-Awsat that reports have said the PMF had withdrawn from the area, while others claimed that some of its members are still there.
