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KDP-PKK conflict intensifies near Kurdistan oil fields

An attack near the Swara Tika and Atrush oil fields comes a week after a pipeline explosion blamed on the PKK, and as Turkey pressures leaders in Erbil and Baghdad to confront the guerrilla group.
Peshmerga forces patrol in the Giraw area, east of Tuz Khurmatu, in June 2017. (ARAZ MOHAMMED/Iraq Oil Report)

SULAIMANIYA/ERBIL - Hostilities between the dominant party of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) looked set to break out into open fighting following an alleged attack Wednesday near two oil fields in Dohuk province that produce 15 percent of the oil under KRG control.

Multiple KRG security officials said there was an explosion followed by shooting at Peshmerga, which PKK officials denied. The incident comes a week after an explosion on the Turkish side of the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline, which had also been blamed on the PKK.

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