Iraqi forces take control of Sinjar and completed an operation to take control of all oil fields operated by state-owned North Oil Company in the Kirkuk region
The Iraqi government took control on Tuesday of Sinjar, said residents of the northwestern city that is claimed by both Kurdish and central Iraqi authorities.
Iraqi forces extended control over all of Sinjar after the withdrawal late on Monday of Kurdish Peshmerga forces who were deployed there, the residents said.
"There was no violence, the Peshmerga pulled out," said a resident by phone.
Peshmerga forces also pulled out from the area of Khanaqin, on the border with Iran as Iraqi forces prepared to take over their positions, security sources said.
The region is home to the site of a small oil field, Khana.
Responding to an illegal referendum on independence held last month, Iraqi government forces on Monday captured the Kurdish-held oil city of Kirkuk, transforming the country's balance of power.
That was part of lightning strike ordered by Minister Haider al-Abadi to retake all disputed areas, including Sinjar, occupied by the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Peshmerga force.
Iraqi forces took control of the Bai Hasan and Avana oil fields northwest of Kirkuk, after Kurdish Peshmerga fighters pulled out from the region, security sources said.
Iraqi forces completed an operation to take control of all oil fields operated by state-owned North Oil Company in the Kirkuk region, a senior military officer said.
Iraqi forces took control of the Bai Hasan and Avana oil after seizing the Baba Gurgur, Jambur and Khabbaz fields on Monday, he said.
The fields were previously held by the Peshmerga, but they pulled out of the area in the face of an advance by forces of the Iraqi central government.
Tuesday's deployment of Iraqi government forces in Dibis, where Bai Hasan and Avana are located, is part of an operation ordered by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to take control of Kurdish-held areas outside the three provinces that form Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.
